Appeal No. 2005-1216
Application No. 10/117,453
would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make islands and sample
support surfaces which are geometrically non-uniform and are irregular as recited in
claims 34 and 35.
This decision contains a new ground of rejection pursuant to 37 CFR § 41.50(b)
(effective September 13, 2004, 69 Fed. Reg. 49960 (August 12, 2004), 1286 Off. Gaz.
Pat. Office 21 (September 7, 2004)). 37 CFR § 41.50(b) provides "[a] new ground of
rejection pursuant to this paragraph shall not be considered final for judicial review."
37 CFR § 41.50(b) also provides that the appellant, WITHIN TWO MONTHS
FROM THE DATE OF THE DECISION, must exercise one of the following two options
with respect to the new ground of rejection to avoid termination of the appeal as to the
rejected claims:
(1) Reopen prosecution. Submit an appropriate amendment of the
claims so rejected or new evidence relating to the claims so rejected, or
both, and have the matter reconsidered by the examiner, in which event
the proceeding will be remanded to the examiner. . . .
(2) Request rehearing. Request that the proceeding be reheard
under § 41.52 by the Board upon the same record. . . .
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