Interference No. 105,019
Correa v. Roberts
broadly as reasonably permitted, we take it to mean that the article is wom directly against the
body of the wearer rather than separated therefrom by an undergarment. The absorbent article
disclosed by the Lawson '278 reference satisfies this requirement.
Relying on the testimony of party Correa's own technical witness, party Roberts argues
that while lateral flaps in sanitary napkins have the function of wrapping the sanitary napkin to the
undergarment of the wearer, flaps in the context of diapers have the different function of
gasketing structures and do not serve as ties. We have reviewed the cited testimony of Ms.
Catherine E. Salerno (Exhibit 2008 on page 5, paragraph 9) and do not find that testimony
sufficient to establish what party Roberts asserts. Ms. Salerno nowhere indicates that structural
extensions which serve to tie the sanitary napkin to an undergarment are the only thing that can or
should be refer-red to as a flap or lateral flap in the context of a sanitary napkin. Ms. Salerno also
nowhere indicates that gasketing structures are the only thing that can or should be referred to as
a flap or side flap in the context of a diaper. Ms. Salemo merely gave two examples of flaps in an
absorbent article, one being a tie in a sanitary napkin and the other being a gasketing structure in a
diaper. Her testimony does not establish that a "lateral flap" or "flap" in a sanitary napkin is
necessarily a tie that wraps to an undergarment and cannot, in any instance, be a gasketing
structure, or that a "side flap" or "flap" in a diaper is necessarily a gasketing structure and cannot,
in any instance, be a tie. We take the term "flap" to have a meaning according to its ordinary
usage in the English language, such as that defined in The Random House College Dictionary,
Revised Edition (1982): "something broad and flexible, or flat and thin, that hangs loosely,
attached at one side only." That meaning comports to and is consistent with the parties'
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