Appeal No. 2006-3076 Page 3
Application No. 10/004,948
REJECTIONS
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the Examiner and the
Appellants regarding the above-noted rejections, we make reference to the Examiner's
answer (mailed December 21, 2005 ) for the reasoning in support of the rejection, and to
Appellants’ brief (filed Feb. 16, 2005 ) and reply brief (filed June 28, 2005) for the
arguments thereagainst.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14-16, 19, 21-23, 26, and 28-36 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 102 as being anticipated by over O’Sullivan, or in the alternative, under 35
U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over O’Sullivan in view of Flansburg.1
Claims 6, 13, 20, and 27 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable
over O’Sullivan.
OPINION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to
Appellants’ specification and claims, to the applied prior art references, and to the
respective positions articulated by Appellants and the Examiner. As a consequence of our
review, we make the determinations that follow.
At the outset, we note that Appellant has indicated three headings for three
groupings for claims with respect to the first rejection and one heading for a single
grouping with respect to the second rejection. We will address Appellants’ arguments
with respect to these four groupings.
From our review of the Examiner’s rejection, we find that the Examiner has set
forth a prima facie case of anticipation and in the alternative, a prima facie case of
obviousness of the claimed invention as set forth in the Answer at pages 4-6. Therefore,
we look to Appellants’ brief for a persuasive argument as to error in the Examiner’s
prima facie cases.
1 We note that the paragraph setting forth the grounds of rejection does not include claims 29-36, but the
body of the rejection includes a discussion of the basis for the rejection. Therefore, we will address these
claims as being rejected.
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