Appeal 2007-0476
Application 10/726,204
printed circuit boards are urged by said pusher members so as to be
connected to each other to achieve electrical continuity of the connector,
wherein said pusher members have substantially a U-shape and are formed
of a unitary part and said pusher members each comprise pushing portions
extending towards the flexible printed circuit boards.
On July 24, 2006, Appellants filed a Reply Brief containing two new
arguments that were not presented in the principal Appeal Brief. The
Examiner noted Appellants’ Reply Brief but did not offer any response to
the new arguments set forth by Appellants. Accordingly, this application is
remanded to the Examiner for the purpose of directing the Examiner to
respond to the new arguments in Appellants’ Reply Brief.
The Examiner should also determine the weight accorded to the claim
recitations “a fitting aperture into which at least three flexible printed circuit
boards are inserted” (claim 1), and “a fitting aperture into which two flexible
printed circuit boards are inserted” (claim 2). Specifically, the Examiner
should ascertain whether the claim recitations are statements of intended use
for the claimed connector, or whether the claim recitations impart a
necessary particular structure to the connector. Once this claim
interpretation is made, the Examiner can then weigh Appellants’ argument
that “Roberts does not disclose or suggest the limitation of ‘a fitting aperture
into which two printed circuit boards are inserted’” (principal Brief 10,
second para.). Appellants emphasize that Roberts mounts the flexible circuit
boards onto pins 11 and 22 during assembly of the connector, and because
the flexible circuits of Roberts “are fixed during assembly of the connector,
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Last modified: September 9, 2013