Appeal No. 2005-2470
Application No. 10/115,068
that the sleeve "is of a length to extend past the crook of a
wearer's elbow," the examiner correctly points to Figure 5 of
Lerman for a sleeve length which extends beyond the elbow. Also,
there is no reason to believe that the sleeve of Lerman is not
capable of comfortably supporting the head of an infant during
breast and bottle feeding, particularly since the term
"comfortably" is a highly subjective one.
Concerning the claim 1 recitation that "opposite ends of
said sleeve are of a dimension to afford both easy slide-in of
said sleeve around the arm when feeding is to be had and easy
slide-off of said sleeve from around the arm . . .," we agree
with the examiner that the sleeve of Lerman is properly
dimensioned to easily slide on and off the arm of an individual.
Manifestly, the ease of putting on and taking off the sleeve is
dependent on the size of the individual's arm. A sleeve of
Lerman designed to fit snugly on a large arm will fit loosely on
a smaller arm and, thereby, meet the claim requirement.
In addition, the "whereby" clause in the last paragraph of
claim 1 concerning when the sleeve is to worn, imparts no
structural limitation on the claimed sleeve.
Turning to the examiner's § 103 rejection of claim 3, with
which claims 5 and 7 stand or fall, over Lerman in view of
-5-
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