Appeal No. 2006-0125
Application 10/086,316
container by inserting the end portion through a slitted surface of a bushing like that in
Heyman, mounted in a wall or panel, which bushing defines at least two deflectable sections
(7) that grasp the cable, protect it against abrasion, and further tend to center the cable.
Contrary to appellants’ assertions in the brief (pages 11-12), claim 14 does not recite that
the cable end is retained in a “pay-out tube retainer,” or that the end of the cable retained is
the end of the cable dispensed from the cable container, which is only secured by the
retainer following dispensing of a preceding length of cable. There is no pay-out tube
required in claim 14 and thus no “pay-out tube retainer.” Nor does claim 14 require that the
retained end portion of the cable be that remaining after a preceding length of cable has
been dispensed, i.e., the end portion of the cable still protruding from the wall of the cable
container after a preceding length of cable has been cut off. In our view, the broad language
of claim 14 encompasses retaining an end portion of a length of cable already cut from the
cable threaded through the wall of the cable container, as would be the case in Heyman.
Since appellants have not demonstrated any error in the examiner’s obviousness
rejection of claim 14, we will sustain the rejection of that claim, and dependent claims 15
and 16, under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a). Appellants’ brief at page 4 indicates that claims 14-16
stand or fall together. Thus, claims 15 and 16 fall with claim 14.
The last of the examiner’s rejections for our review is that of claims 17 through 19 and 21
under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Bass in view of Newman. In this case,
the examiner has determined that Bass discloses a pay-out tube used with a cable box
including cable or wire (13) arranged in a stacked figure-8 configuration, wherein the pay-
out tube comprises a molded synthetic resin tube portion (33) for receiving and guiding
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