Appeal 2007-2766
Application 09/880,615
Claims 23, 24, 26-33, and 35-41 are pending (Supp. Appeal Br. 3).
Claims 31 and 41 are withdrawn; claims 23, 24, 26-30, 32, 33, and 35-40
stand rejected (Supp. Appeal Br. 3). Two grounds of rejection are appealed:
1) Claims 23, 26-30, 32, 35-37, and 39 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as obvious over Yan (U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,172, Dec. 1, 1998) in
view of Solovay (U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,884, Jun. 23, 1998) (Answer 3); and
2) Claims 24, 33, 38, and 40 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
as obvious over Yan in view of Solovay, further in view of Richter (U.S.
Pat. No. 5,807,404, Sep. 15, 1998) (Answer 5).
We select claims 23, 24, and 32 as representative of the appealed
claims. Claims 23, 24, and 32 read as follows:
23. A method of manufacturing a stent comprising the steps of:
providing a tube, the tube characterized by a longitudinal
axis, having at least two different longitudinally spaced regions
of different predetermined porosities and each region having
substantially the same porosity about its circumference, and
subsequently cutting a stent from the tube.
24. The method of claim 23 wherein a first portion of the tube
is made from a first metal and a second portion of the tube,
axially spaced from the first portion of the tube is made from a
second metal different from the first metal.
32. A method of manufacturing a stent comprising the steps of:
providing a tube having at least two different
longitudinally spaced regions of different predetermined
porosities; and
subsequently, cutting a plurality of openings in the tube
to form a stent having multiple serpentine bands such that a first
band has a different porosity than a second band.
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