Appeal No. 2006-2895 Page 9
Application No. 09/971,469
the art would have to operate the Anderson apparatus in a manner contrary to that
disclosed in the patent, and as such, the circumstances are not inevitable. Supp.
Reply Brief, p. 4. For the reasons provided by the appellants, we agree that the
disclosure of Anderson does not inherently anticipate the claimed method.
With regard to the examiner’s rejection of independent claim 1 under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Anderson in view of Walsh, the
examiner determined that Anderson does not disclose applying the adhesive
directly to the reinforcing material, however, Walsh teaches a method of applying
a reinforcing strip/liners 130 to a sheet/box blank 128 using a spraying device 134
prior to registration of the two sheets. Supp. Answer, p. 4. The examiner found
that it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time
the invention was made to use the teachings of Walsh in the invention of Anderson
in order to produce a reinforced carton blank from a laminate for its reinforcing
characteristics. Supp. Answer, p. 4.
We find that Walsh does not cure the deficiency of Anderson because Walsh
also fails to teach or suggest the step of cutting both a carton sheet and a
reinforcing material to form carton blanks. Walsh discloses forming a carton for
holding a product, e.g., cereal, in which a continuous strip (128) of paperboard
material is laminated to relatively narrow continuous strips (130) of a relatively
flexible material and to a continuous film (136) of a relatively flexible fluid
impervious plastic material. Walsh, col. 6, line 59 – col. 7, line 17. As shown in
Figure 11 of Walsh, the end of continuous strips (130) and the portions of the
continuous film (136) are folded back upon themselves so that when the laminated
material is passed through a die cutter; only the paperboard material (128) is cut.
Walsh, col. 7, lines 22-27. As such, we find that neither Anderson nor Walsh,
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