Appeal 2007-0694
Reexamination Control 90/006,433
Patent 5,428,933
Guarriello upper face 262 cannot be a raised sealing member as it is the
reference plane from which Guarriello’s recesses and projections are
defined.
Patentee claims 4, 5, 17 and 18 do not specify the position of the
raised sealing member other than it is raised. Thus, the claims on their face
do not require that the raised sealing member be above or below the
reference plane from which the recesses and projections are defined.
Further, Patentee fails to direct our attention to where the specification
explicitly requires the raised sealing member to have a height distinct from
the reference plane. Giving the term “raised sealing member” its broadest
reasonable interpretation, we conclude that Patentee’s claimed raised sealing
member does not exclude a height equal to that of the reference plane from
which recesses and projections are defined. We find that Guarriello’s upper
face 262 represents a raised sealing member that seals two forms together
when stacked one on top of another. Additionally, to the extent that Patentee
is correct and that the reference plane is excluded, we find that the use of
tongue projections (“raised sealing members”) for interlocking insulating
forms are well known in the art and their use as an interlocking member
would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. (See, e.g.,
Guarriello, Background of the Invention, col. 1, ll. 29-34).
Patentee states that claims 4 and 17 require that the raised sealing
member be positioned “between” the rows of projections and recesses.
Patentee contends that Guarriello fails to teach such an arrangement.
(Appeal Br. at 36). As mentioned above, Patentee’s raised sealing member
for insulating forms was known to those skilled in the insulating form art.
One skilled in the art would know how to place a raised sealing member on
33
Page: Previous 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013