Appeal 2006-2796
Application 09/230,439
1 “an ornamental or protective layer”.1 Hence, because the Naka ’951 stair mat is an
2 ornamental or protective layer, the broadest reasonable interpretation of the
3 Appellant’s claim term “facing material”, in view of the Appellant’s Specification,
4 includes the Naka ‘951 stair mat. Regardless, the Appellant’s claim 18 requires
5 that the horizontal and vertical fastening members are adapted to, i.e., capable of,
6 have facing material applied thereon. The fixing tongues in the Naka ‘951 figures
7 appear to be capable of having stair facing materials in general affixed to them by a
8 technique such as adhesive bonding.
9 The Appellant argues that none of the applied references discloses the
10 recited relationship between modulus of elasticity E of the resilient material of the
11 working member and a thickness H of the working member (Reply Br. 6). The
12 thickness H of the working member, as disclosed in the Appellant’s Specification,
13 is the maximum distance from the bottom to the top of the working member, and
14 equals the sum of the thicknesses of the facing material, fastening member and
15 adhesive (Spec. 3, 7; figs. 1-3). Like the Appellant’s resilient material of the
16 working member, the Naka ‘951 edge cover is elastic (“a flexible synthetic resin, a
17 flexible rubber, or the like”, col. 2, ll. 29-30). Hence, the Naka ‘951 edge cover
18 appears to have a modulus of elasticity comparable to that of the Appellant’s
19 resilient material of the working member. Also, like the Appellant’s facing
20 structure, the Naka ‘951 edge bead cushion is approximately the thickness of the
21 combined fixing tongue (14, which corresponds to the Appellant’s horizontal
22 fastening member), adhesive (col. 3, ll. 6-9) and tread mat (12, which corresponds
23 to the Appellant’s horizontal facing material) (figs. 1, 2, 5). Consequently, because
24 Naka ‘951 uses a conventional facing material that appears to be comparable to the
1 Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 410 (G. & C. Merriam 1973).
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013