Appeal 2007-0291
Application 09/976,412
into a discontinuous fused border zone (col. 2, ll. 15-18; col.
2, l. 54-col. 3, l. 28; see Figures 1 and 2; Answer 3-4);
(5) Morin teaches the correlation between heat setting the
polyester fabric at temperatures below 300 ºF and the
reduction of contaminates and increased absorbance
capacity of cleanroom wipers (col. 6, ll. 59-62; Answer 4-
5);
(6) Dean teaches fiber made from polyesters used as binder
fibers for nonwoven yarns and fabrics where lower levels of
the titanium catalyst used to catalyze the formation of the
polyesters yield products that have better stability when
held in the melt (col. 1, ll. 19-27 and 51-52; col. 2, ll. 46-54;
and col. 6, l. 37-col. 7, l. 4).
A reference “teaches away” from a claimed invention “when a person
of ordinary skill, upon reading the reference, would be discouraged from
following the path set out in the reference, or would be led in a direction
divergent from the path that was taken by the applicant.” In re Gurley, 27
F.3d 551, 553, 31 USPQ2d 1130, 1131 (Fed. Cir. 1994). Implicit in our
review of the Examiner’s obviousness analysis is that the claim must first
have been correctly construed to define the scope and meaning of any
contested limitation. See Gechter v. Davidson, 116 F.3d 1454, 1457, 43
USPQ2d 1030, 1032, 1035 n.3 (Fed. Cir. 1997). During prosecution before
the Examiner, we must apply “to the verbiage of the proposed claims the
broadest reasonable meaning of the words in their ordinary usage as they
would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, taking into account
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