Appeal 2007-2566
Application 10/243,873
I. Introduction
Manh-Quynh Chu, Pierre-Luc Reynaud and Marc Reynaud
(hereinafter "Appellants") seek our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) (2002)
of the Examiner's final rejection of claims 1-10, all of the claims pending in
this Application. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b) (2002). We
AFFIRM.
A. The invention
Appellants' invention is directed to a dental retention pin, i.e., a "post"
that can be anchored to the root of a tooth which has lost much of its
structure in order to provide a support for a dental crown. Claim 1 is
illustrative of the subject matter on appeal.
1. A dental retention pin made of composite
material comprises a core of fibers embedded in a
resin matrix, wherein the fibers, which have a
refractive index (n), are radio-opaque, and a
refractive index (n') of resin forming the resin
matrix has a value within 0.15 of that of the fibers.
B. The rejections
The Examiner has rejected claims 1-10 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a). The
Examiner relied on the following prior art2 as evidence of unpatentability:
Bowen US 4,215,033 Jul. 29, 1980
Bachmann US 6,224,377 B1 May 1, 2001
(filed Jun. 1, 1999)
Karmaker US 6,345,984 B2 Feb. 12, 2002
(filed Jun. 25, 1999)
Bowen qualifies as prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). Bachmann and
Karmaker qualify as prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e).
2 No references to et al. are made in this opinion.
2
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