Appeal 2007-0020
Application 10/680,510
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a flange having an outer perimeter
in the shape of a heptagon to provide the desired number of flange edges
(Answer 5-6). The Examiner, however, has not provided evidence or reasoning as
to why one of ordinary skill in the art would have desired a flange having seven
edges. Thus, the Examiner has not established a prima facie case of obviousness
over Collette and Du Pree of the inventions claimed in the Appellants’ claims 36,
37, and 81-84.
Claims 51-65
The Appellants argue regarding claims 51 and 52-65 that depend directly or
indirectly therefrom that Du Pree’s ten-sided flange does not have an apex
diametrically opposed from a center of at least one of the substantially straight
sides (Br. 19-21). The Examiner argues that a polygonal shape having an odd
number of straight sides inherently would have the corresponding number of
apexes (Answer 6). The Examiner, however, has not established that one of
ordinary skill in the art would have been led by Collette and Du Pree to use a
flange having an odd number of straight sides. The Examiner, therefore, has not
established a prima facie case of obviousness over Collette and Du Pree of the
inventions claimed in the Appellants’ claims 51-65.
Rejection over Collette in view of JP ‘432
Claims 28-35, 38-42, 74-76, 79 and 80
JP ‘432 discloses a molded plastic container having an upper mouth-forming
portion, a lower base-forming portion and sidewalls that can be cylindrical
(¶¶ 0009, 0026, fig. 1). The container has a neck flange that “is formed in
hexagonal shape, but this flange part can be formed in a square or even octagonal
6
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