Appeal No. 2006-1666
Application No. 10/211,683
comprising the presently claimed plurality of criss-crossing
filaments that define a net that is laterally stretchable with
limited longitudinal stretchability. However, as appreciated by
the examiner, Sneyd does not teach that the filaments have a
circular cross-section with a diameter of 1/8 inch, i.e., 125
mils. Rather, Sneyd teaches that the individual filaments may
have diameters in the range of from about 3 to about 12 mils
(column 7, lines 25 et. seq.). Accordingly, it can be seen that
the claimed diameter of 125 mils is more than 10 times the upper
limit of the range disclosed by Sneyd. Since Sneyd discloses
that “[t]he present invention relates, generally, to absorbent
articles configured for proximate contact with a mammalian body
in order to receive a fluid containing discharge therefrom”
(column 1, lines 9-12), and the present invention is directed to
insulation material, we must agree with appellants that one of
ordinary skill in the art would not have had the requisite
motivation to significantly increase the diameter of Sneyd’s
filaments to conform to the claimed construction. While the
examiner maintains that “Sneyd teaches a general structure for
any absorbent article for receiving a fluid containing discharge
from any mammalian body” and is not limited to the size
constraints of a sanitary napkin (page 9 of the answer, second
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007