Appeal 2006-1875
Reexamination Control No. 90/006,272
1 Disclosure Statement filed December 30, 2003 (which is similar to a
2 statement in the amendment May 12, 2003):
3 Patentee conducted a diligent investigation as to the first date of
4 publication of the Copes-Vulcan Sales Brochure referenced in the
5 attached declaration. Patentee was and is unable to establish any date
6 of publication prior to June 30, 1997, and cannot confirm the actual
7 date the Copes-Vulcan Sales Brochure first became accessible to the
8 public.
9 That is, Patent Owner asserts that it is without knowledge of the date of
10 "publication" of the Copes-Vulcan brochure. This statement, even if
11 considered evidence, is entitled to little weight because it does not tend to
12 prove that "publication" of the brochure occurred after the critical date, or
13 disprove that "publication" occurred before the critical date.
14 No facts or details are provided about the brochure or the investigation.
15 Patent Owner does not even say whether it discovered the date of printing
16 and, if so, what it was. The quotation above is open to the interpretation that
17 Patent Owner knows that the brochure was printed before the critical date, but
18 was unable to confirm the specific date it became publicly accessible (i.e., the
19 date of "publication"). Patent Owner does not explain what records were
20 searched, with what results, or what personnel were interviewed. For
21 example, the co-inventors Hemme and Shea submitted Rule 132 declarations
22 stating that the RAVEN control valve in the Copes-Vulcan Brochure was
23 their work, but there is no indication that they were asked if they knew about
24 the circumstances surrounding the distribution of the brochure or when the
25 RAVEN control valve went on sale. Patent Owner does not provide any
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