Appeal No. 2005-2186
Application No. 09/750,664
Anticipation is established only when a single prior art
reference discloses, expressly or under principles of inherency,
each and every element of a claimed invention. RCA Corp. v.
Applied Digital Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444, 221 USPQ
385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1984). In other words, there must be no
difference between the claimed invention and the reference
disclosure, as viewed by a person of ordinary skill in the field
of the invention. Scripps Clinic & Research Found. v. Genentech
Inc., 927 F.2d 1565, 1576, 18 USPQ2d 1001, 1010 (Fed. Cir. 1991).
As indicated above, independent claim 1 requires a field
applier which forms an equipotential surface convexed with
respect to the liquid surface of a conductive liquid to be
sprayed on an object. The examiner (see page 6 in the answer)
considers that (1) Hochberg’s wires 40 and electrode 42
constitute such a field applier and (2) the concave surface of
Hochberg’s printing head 30 embodies such an equipotential
surface. These conclusions stem from an assessment that the body
of the printing head consists of a homogenous conductive material
as evidenced by the manner in which the printing head is cross-
hatched in the drawings.
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