Appeal 2006-3299
Application 10/346,878
Claims 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 11, 16-18, 21, and 23 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over the admitted prior art in the
Specification in view of Schwartz and Hansen. Claims 3, 9, 12, 13, 15, and
22 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over the admitted
prior art in the Specification in view of Schwartz, Hansen, and Siegel.
Claims 4, 10, and 14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over the admitted prior art in the Specification in view of Schwartz, Hansen,
Siegel, and Mermelstein.
The Examiner finds that claim 1 distinguishes from the sheet protector
of the admitted prior art in that the prior art does not disclose curved slits
joining the holes to the edge of the sheet protector or the direction of the
curved slits (Answer 3). The Examiner finds that Schwartz discloses sheet
protectors that comprise curved slots or slits that are substantially
perpendicular to the edge of the sheet at the sheet edge and being
substantially parallel to the edge of the sheet at the edge of the respective
hole. Hansen discloses detachable sheet protectors having holes that are
joined to the edge of the protector by slits that may be in the same or
opposite directions (Answer 3). The Examiner concludes that it would have
been obvious for one with ordinary skill in this art to utilize curved slits
joining the holes to the edge of the sheet protector as disclosed by Schwartz
and to vary the direction of the curved slits as described by Hansen (Answer
3).
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