Appeal 2007-2766
Application 09/880,615
12. The stent covering can be disposed on a suitable expandable frame
(Solovay, at col. 7, ll. 25-44).
13. A “nonuniform porosity stent” can be prepared from any suitable
material; such as a polymer that consists of an extruded tube (Solovay, at
col. 7, ll. 4-14).
14. The stent’s pores “may be filled with a material, such as drug or protein”
(Solovay, at col. 6, ll. 47-55; Answer 5).
15. Solvay describes a preferred embodiment in which a braided porous
stent covering is produced on a mandrel and then cut to its desired length
(Solovay, at col. 8, ll. 19-30; see Fig. 7).
The Richter Patent
16. Richter teaches a stent comprised of C-shaped, U-shaped, and S-shaped
loops (Richter, at col. 3; at col. 6, ll. 42-60; Fig. 11; Answer 6).
17. The flexibility of the loops can vary from loop to loop. The different
flexibilities may be accomplished by using different materials in the
different loops, such as different metals (Richter, at col. 6, ll. 42-51; at col.
10, ll. 38-40; Answer 6).
REJECTION OVER YAN IN VIEW SOLOVAY
Claims 23, 26-30, 32, 35-37, and 39 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §
103(a) as obvious over Yan in view of Solovay.
Claims 23 and 32 are directed to a manufacturing process comprising:
1) providing a tube characterized by having at least two different pores sizes
along its longitudinal axis; and 2) cutting a stent from the tube. Claim 32 is
directed to a manufacturing process involving a tube of the same non-
uniform porosity characteristics recited in claim 23, but it further limits the
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