Appeal No. 2005-0485
Application No. 09/303,632
not well taken. Therefore, we shall sustain the standing 35
U.S.C. § 102(b) rejection of these claims as being anticipated by
Gaible.
II. The 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) rejection of claims 32 and 35 through
37 as being unpatentable over Yanagisawa in view of Adair
Yanagisawa discloses a protective cover for a medical
keyboard. The cover 34, 34' comprises a thin, transparent,
waterproof member having an elastic fixing part 34a, e.g., a
rubber band, for enclosing part (Figure 9) or all (Figure 10) of
a keyboard upper surface during use to prevent contamination by
medical by-products.
As conceded by the examiner, Yanagisawa does not meet the
limitation in independent claim 32 requiring the cover to be
“plastic.”
The appellants, referring to the encompassing recitation of
“a flat and entirely transparent planar sheet of pliable plastic
film of uniform thickness throughout,” allow that while
“Yanagisawa teaches a flat sheet that requires rubber bands to be
used to secure it to a portion or all of a keyboard” (main brief,
pages 5 and 6), the reference is additionally deficient with
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