Appeal 2007-0586
Application 10/387,812
Levine discloses an RF tool which uses a heat pipe to provide cooling
to the ablation tip. The heat pipe is a hollow heat conducting metal tube
which contains an evacuated space filed with a phase-changeable liquid.
Levine discloses the phase-change liquid as water. Water vaporizes while
the heat is generated by the tip and condenses in heat exchanger 424, 422 so
that it can flow back to the tip to carry more heat away from the tip.
Finally, Lorentzen discloses a fluid cooling system for an ablation tip
which has pump 70, tube 22 to supply fluid and tube 24 that returns fluid to
a cooling condenser sump.
PRINCIPLES OF LAW
“Section 103 forbids issuance of a patent when ‘the differences
between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such
that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the
invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said
subject matter pertains.’ In Graham v. John Deere Co. of Kansas City, 383
U. S. 1, 14, 148 USPQ 459, 465 (1966), the court set out a framework for
applying the statutory language of §103, language itself based on the logic of
the earlier decision in Hotchkiss v. Greenwood, 11 How. 248 (1851), and its
progeny. See 383 U. S., at 15–17.
The analysis is objective:
‘Under §103, the scope and content of the prior art are to be
determined; differences between the prior art and the claims at
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