Ex Parte Gordon

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Oct 13, 2005

09805313 (B.P.A.I. Oct. 13, 2005)

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The opinion in support of the decision being entered
today was not written for publication in a law journal
and is not binding precedent of the Board.
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES

Ex parte GIGI C. GORDON

Appeal No. 2005-0886
Application No. 09/805,313

ON BRIEF

Before KIMLIN, OWENS and WALTZ, Administrative Patent Judges.
KIMLIN, Administrative Patent Judge.
REQUEST FOR REHEARING
Appellant requests rehearing of our decision of
April 25, 2005, wherein we affirmed the examiner's rejections of
appealed claims 1-18 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Having reviewed
appellant's request, we are satisfied that our decision is free
of factual and legal error.
Appeal No. 2005-0886
Application No. 09/805,313
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At the outset, we remain of the opinion that the claim 1
language "for cleaning a surface selected from a group consisting
essentially of dishes . . ." is merely a statement of intended
use that does not serve to structurally distinguish the cleaning
articles of the claimed system from the cleaning articles of
Carter. While appellant maintains that Carter "fails to teach,
or suggest, the claimed use of bath towels for the claimed
cleaning applications" (page 2 of Request, first paragraph), the
claims on appeal are not directed to the use of the cleaning
articles but, rather, the articles themselves with identifying
indicia thereon. Furthermore, although appellant contends that
"[a] towel bearing the 'HIS' indicia that is later used to wash a
wall or a car plainly does not bear indicia specifying 'WALL' or
'CAR'" (page 2 of Request, second paragraph), appellant does not
seem to appreciate that a label can mean different things to
different people. For instance, the "he" and "she" of a
household may well understand that a towel labeled "HIS" is meant
to be used on a car. Manifestly, the mental choices of a person
regarding the use of a towel cannot patentably distinguish the
structure of one towel from another.
Appeal No. 2005-0886
Application No. 09/805,313
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Appellant also submits that "[t]he use of a bath towel for
such purposes [cleaning dishes] will ruin the bath towel and
convert it to a rag, which is not the purpose of the towel in
Carter et al." (page 2 of Request, penultimate paragraph).
However, while Carter may be directed to designer towels, we are
convinced that one of ordinary skill in the art would have found
in Carter the suggestion of labeling towels or other cleaning
articles in accordance with an intended use. We simply find
nothing nonobvious in categorizing and organizing articles with
the aid of labels which identify an intended use.
As for the rejection over Scotch-Briteâ„¢, appellant makes the
argument that "[t]he specification teaches only permanent marking
or actually forming the cleaning article to the indicia
specifying use" (sentence bridging pages 3 and 4 of Request). It
is well settled, however, that limitations in the specification
are not to be read into the claims. As stated at page 6 of our
Decision, "we agree with the examiner that appealed claim 1 is
sufficiently broad to embrace identifying indicia that is removed
from the cleaning article before its use."
Appeal No. 2005-0886
Application No. 09/805,313
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In conclusion, based on the foregoing, we have reconsidered
our decision as requested by appellant, but we decline to make
any change therein.
No time period for taking any subsequent action in
connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 CFR
§ 1.136(a)(1)(iv) (effective Sep. 13, 2004; 69 Fed. Reg. 49960
(Aug. 12, 2004); 1286 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 21 (Sep. 7, 2004)).
DENIED
EDWARD C. KIMLIN )
Administrative Patent Judge )
)
)
)
)
TERRY J. OWENS ) BOARD OF PATENT
Administrative Patent Judge ) APPEALS AND
) INTERFERENCES
)
)
)
THOMAS A. WALTZ )
Administrative Patent Judge )
ECK:clm
Appeal No. 2005-0886
Application No. 09/805,313
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Price, Heneveld, Cooper, Dewitt
& Litton, LLP
695 Kenmoor, S.E.
P.O. Box 2567
Grand Rapids, MI 49501