Appeal 2007-0870
Reissue Application 09/902,904
Patent 6,038,784
patentability of claim 20. Therefore, the patentability of claim 20 stands or
falls with the patentability of claim 19. 37 CFR § 41.37(c)(1)(v).
a. Son
Son discloses a sterilizing tray for a plurality of hypodermic needles
(cannulae with hubs attached) regardless of the size or shape of their hubs
(fitting at the end of the needle that can connect to a syringe, etc.) wherein
the needles can either be in an upright position for sterilization or in a flat
position for packaging (col. 1, ll. 1-7). The tray comprises a base 5 and
sides 6, a plurality of spaced fingers 15, each with a resilient head 16
adapted to hold the hub of a needle, mounted on an arm 14 which can be
raised or lowered to raise the needles supported thereon into an upright
position or to position them flat in the tray, and a plurality of disposed tabs
19 with notches 20 adapted to support a needle cannula (pointed tubular
medical component without the hub) (col. 2, ll. 1-2 and 16-36; Figs. 1 and
2).
b. the issue
The issue is whether Son discloses each and every limitation of claim
19.
i. Appellants' position
Appellants contend that Son fails to disclose a "bottle support means"
and a "disk holding means" as recited in claim 19 (Br., 32-34). In particular,
Appellants contend that the fingers of Son support hypodermic needles
which "greatly differ in size, in shape and in their intended purpose from the
'baby bottles' that are positively set forth in independent claim 9" (Br., 33).
Appellants further contend that a disk holding means requires an upstanding
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