Ex Parte Huisinga et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardSep 21, 201613315736 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 21, 2016) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 13/315,736 12/09/2011 27752 7590 09/23/2016 THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY Global IP Services Central Building, C9 One Procter and Gamble Plaza CINCINNATI, OH 45202 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Matthias Huisinga UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. Z-8538Q 8552 EXAMINER NGUYEN, VIX ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3731 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/23/2016 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address( es): centraldocket.im @pg.com pair_pg@firsttofile.com mayer.jk@pg.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte MATTHIAS HUISINGA, RALF KLUG, JUDITH VON DAHLEN, MICHAEL MAICHEL, STEFAN SINDLINGER, and THOMAS STEINER Appeal2014-005476 Application 13/315,7361 Technology Center 3700 Before CHARLES N. GREENHUT, THOMAS F. SMEGAL, and JEFFREY A. STEPHENS, Administrative Patent Judges. SMEGAL, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Matthias Huisinga et al. (Appellants) seek our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134 of the Examiner's final rejection of claims 1, 7, and 9 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by Sanchez-Martinez (US 2007/0212923 Al, pub. Sept. 13, 2007); and claims 2-6 and 8 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 (a) as unpatentable over Sanchez-Martinez.2 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). 1 According to Appellants, the real party in interest is Braun GmbH. Appeal Br. 1. 2 The Final Office Action contains objections to the Drawings. Final Act. 2. Such issues either relate to petitionable matters and/or are not appealable Appeal2014-005476 Application 13/315,736 We REVERSE. CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER Claim 1, the sole independent claim, is reproduced below and illustrates the claimed subject matter, with disputed limitations emphasized. 1. An epilation head for an epilation device particularly for plucking hair from human skin having a rotating cylinder and rotating around a rotational axis, the rotating cylinder having a number of plucking units for grasping and plucking out hair and having a skin oriented surface, wherein each plucking unit comprises a movable clamping unit, a stationary clamping unit, wherein the movable clamping unit and the stationary clamping unit form a closable plucking gap and wherein in that the movable clamping units have a skin contacting surface and the total area of the skin contacting surfaces of the movable clamping units is greater than about 5% of the area of the skin oriented surface. ANALYSIS Anticipation of Claims 1, 7, and 9 by Sanchez-Martinez We are persuaded by Appellants' arguments that the Examiner fails to establish anticipation in rejecting claims 1, 7, and 9 over Sanchez-Martinez. See Appeal Br. 2. The Examiner finds Sanchez-Martinez anticipates claim 1 by disclosing an epilation head for an epilation device having movable matters. See In re Schneider, 481F.2d1350, 1356-57 (CCPA 1973); In re Mindick, 371 F.2d 892, 894 (CCPA 1967); see also MPEP § 1002.02(c) and § 1201. Thus, the relief sought by Appellants should be presented by a petition to the Commissioner under 37 C.F.R. § 1.181 instead of by appeal to this Board. Accordingly, we do not further consider this issue. 2 Appeal2014-005476 Application 13/315,736 clamping units where, inter alia, "the total area of the skin contacting surfaces of the movable clamping units is greater than about 5% of the area of the skin oriented surface." Final Act. 3 (citing Sanchez-Martinez, Figs. 1, 2 (illustrating an epilation head having a skin oriented surface including the skin contacting surface of movable clamping unit 10)). Appellants take issue with the analysis and conclusions presented in the Final Action, explaining that Sanchez-Martinez "is silent with regard to a skin oriented surface and is further silent with regard to skin contacting surface or the ratio of the absent skin contacting surfaces from the unmentioned skin oriented surface," and does not "inherently include the otherwise undisclosed elements." Appeal Br. 2. We agree. Appellants conclude that "[t]he absence of direct or inherent disclosure of the elements in the reference render the reference incapable of supporting an anticipation rejection under 35 USC§ 102." Id. The Examiner does not respond to Appellants' contentions as set forth in the Appeal Brief, but merely reproduces the Final Action verbatim. See Ans. 2-6. Thus the Examiner has provided no basis for disputing Appellants' explanation of the short-comings of Sanchez-Martinez. [U]nless a reference discloses within the four comers of the document not only all of the limitations claimed but also all of the limitations arranged or combined in the same way as recited in the claim, it cannot be said to prove prior invention of the thing claimed and, thus, cannot anticipate under 35 U.S.C. § 102. Net MoneyIN, Inc., v. VeriSign, Inc., 545 F.3d 1359, 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2008). For the foregoing reasons, we do not sustain the Examiner's decision rejecting claims 1, 7, and 9 as anticipated by Sanchez-Martinez. 3 Appeal2014-005476 Application 13/315,736 Obviousness of Claims 2-6 and 8 over Sanchez-Martinez Regarding dependent claims 2-6, and 8, the Examiner's rejection is based on the same unsupported findings discussed above with respect to the disclosure of Sanchez-Martinez. See Final Act. 4-5; repeated verbatim at Ans. 4-5. Accordingly, for similar reasons as discussed above for claim 1, we do not sustain the Examiner's decisions rejecting claims 2-6, and 8 over Sanchez-Martinez DECISION The Examiner's prior-art rejections are reversed. REVERSED 4 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation