Appeal 2007-2596
Application 10/370,634
The Examiner responds that when claim 13 is given its broadest
reasonable interpretation it encompasses “a concrete structure subsequently
tightened to a desire[d] degree” (Answer 5). The Examiner argues that,
given that interpretation, Klein anticipates claim 13 because it discloses a
concrete structure, “i.e. the multi-story parking garage of Figure 1, wherein
the perimeter of the structure has a plurality of stainless steel strands passing
through each floor and fixed to the structure's lower story 10 and roof 14.
These stainless steel strands are then tightened by turnbuckle 18 to tension
the structure along [the] columns” (id.).
For a reference to anticipate a claim “[e]very element of the claimed
invention must be literally present, arranged as in the claim.” Richardson v.
Suzuki Motor Co., 868 F.2d 1226, 1236 (Fed. Cir. 1989). In the instant case,
claim 13 recites a concrete member with a tubular structure that defines a
void through the member. Claim 13’s concrete structure also has a
tensioned stainless steel strand that passes through the void, and is
“anchored at opposite ends of the member” (emphasis added). Thus, claim
13 requires the stainless steel strand to be anchored at the ends of the same
concrete member that has the tubular void.
Klein discloses a vertical wall construction “especially suited for large
parking garages” (Klein, col. 1, ll. 17-18). In Klein’s construction method a
building’s outer walls are constructed of serially spaced vertical stainless
steel wires that are anchored to the building’s top and bottom stories (id. at
col. 1, l. 64 to col. 2, l. 22). “The floor of each intermediate story contains a
vertical passage 26 through which the stranded wire structure freely
extends” (id. at col. 2, ll. 6-8).
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