Appeal 2007-0201
Application 10/973,635
THE REFERENCES
Biss US 5,233,786 Aug. 10, 1993
Brown US 5,946,849 Sep. 07, 1999
THE REJECTION
Claims 10-15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over the combined disclosures of Brown and Biss.
OPINION
The rejection is affirmed as to claims 10-12, 14 and 15, and reversed
as to claim 13.
Claims 10-12, 14 and 15
Brown teaches that “lead-containing fishing devices are frequently
lost during use, which can result in poisoning of the environment and of the
animals therein” (col. 1, ll. 23-25). Brown discloses a fishing device such as
a lure, jig or sinker which, to avoid the toxicity of lead, is made of bismuth,
alone or in combination with other non-toxic metals (col. 1, ll. 46-47; col. 1,
l. 1 – col. 2, l. 7). The fishing device is formed by casting, spin molding,
dropping, punching or any other suitable method (col. 1, ll. 63-65).
Biss likewise teaches that lost lead fishing sinkers are toxic to the
environment (col. 1, ll. 11-15). Biss replaces lead with steel or other metal
shot, preferably steel made of iron and other elements but having less than 1
percent of toxic heavy metals (col. 1, ll. 36-39; col. 2, ll. 37-41). Biss’s
sinker is elongated and flexible and comprises a string of metal or steel
shot (12) separated by annular indentations (11) in a tubular jacket (15) that
preferably is heat shrunk polyolefin (col. 1, ll. 46-50; col. 2, ll. 6-8; 31-35).
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013