Appeal No. 2005-0957
Application No. 09/745,386
over each commissure post tip. Appellants have pointed out these advantages in their
revised appeal brief at page 4 and in their reply brief at page 3. The examiner has
failed to specifically address these advantages despite their explicit identification by
appellants.
As for the examiner’s assertion that one of ordinary skill in the art would have
expected the invention to perform equally well with the flexible lengths of material
(sutures) not crossing over each other, the examiner has provided no explanation of
why this would be the case and no cogent rationale or reason for dismissing appellants’
invention out of hand.
CONCLUSION
In summary:
The rejection of claims 1-4, 24 and 25 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 (a) as being
unpatentable over Carpentier is reversed.
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