Appeal No. 2005-0121
Application No. 10/074,154
co-pending Application No. 09/572,214 in view of Murphy.1
Attention is directed to the main and reply briefs (Paper Nos. 10 and 13) and the answer
(Paper No. 12) for the respective positions of the appellant and the examiner regarding the merits
of these rejections.2
DISCUSSION
I. The 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) rejection of claims 1 and 3 through 7 as being unpatentable over
Murphy
Murphy discloses a mouse pad and item holder 10 comprising a base 12 having a top
surface which includes a mouse tracking area 20, a bottom surface 22, a plurality of sides 15, 16,
17 and 18, and a hollow interior 24. The hollow interior defines a plurality of compartments
accessible through openings 28, 30, 32 and 34 in the sides. The compartments may hold any
number of useful items either directly or via drawers. One such drawer embodies a slidable tray
38 for Post-it® notes or other types of paper 40.
As implicitly conceded by the examiner, Murphy does not meet the limitations in
independent claims 1 and 5 requiring the surface on which information is written to have a
planar or surface area substantially equal in size to the planar or surface area of the opaque top
layer. Figures 1 and 3 show that Murphy’s surface on which information is written (paper 40)
1 The record indicates that the instant application is a continuation-in-part of Application
No. 09/572,214.
2 Appended to the main brief as Exhibit B are copies of claims 1 through 10, 12 through
14 and 17 in Application No. 09/572,214. The examiner has not disputed the accuracy of these
copies.
3
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