Ex Parte Holden - Page 3

          Appeal Number: 2006-2531                                                          
          Application Number: 09/910,641                                                    

                           Rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)                               
                Yonkers discloses a device for separating or indexing                       
          adjacent sheets of paper (col. 1, lines 10-12).  The device                       
          includes a flexible plastic film (14) coated with a pressure                      
          sensitive adhesive (16) to enable the plastic film to be                          
          attached to a finger or other object (col. 2, line 59 – col. 3,                   
          line 3).  A plurality of indexing devices can be attached by the                  
          adhesive to a backing strip (20) from which the device is                         
          removed before placement on the finger or other object (col. 4,                   
          lines 3-9).  The plastic film can have a traction material (18)                   
          such as foam, sponge rubber, crosscut or hatched rubber stock,                    
          or rubber threads, attached thereto by cement (col. 3, lines 14-                  
          29).  The plastic film and traction material can have variations                  
          of color and shape (col. 4, lines 10-13).  In another embodiment                  
          the plastic film itself can have a traction surface (19) that is                  
          crosscut or hatched to increase its traction ability (col. 3,                     
          lines 54).                                                                        
                The appellant argues that what has a non-slip texture is                    
          not Yonkers’ plastic film but, rather, a mass of traction                         
          material (18) adhered to the plastic film (brief, pages 9-10;                     
          reply brief, pages 5-6).  Because Yonkers’ rubbery traction mass                  
          materials and the plastic film are both flexible, the                             
          combination of the plastic film and the traction material                         

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