Ex Parte Song

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Feb 23, 2012

11716256 (B.P.A.I. Feb. 23, 2012)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARKOFFICE
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
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
11/716,256 03/09/2007 Wonjung Song 545.128 6769
85444 7590 02/23/2012
Bay Area Technolgy Law Group PC
4089 Emery Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
EXAMINER
HAYES, KRISTEN C
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3643
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
02/23/2012 PAPER
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.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
__________

BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
__________

Ex parte WONJUNG SONG
__________

Appeal 2010-010539
Application 11/716,256
Technology Center 3600
__________

Before DONALD E. ADAMS, MELANIE L. McCOLLUM, and
JEFFREY N. FREDMAN, Administrative Patent Judges.

McCOLLUM, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL
This is an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 involving claims to a pet bed.
The Examiner has rejected the claims as anticipated or obvious. We have
jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We reverse.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Claims 1-7 are on appeal (App. Br.1 2). We will focus on claim 1,
which reads as follows:

1 Second Supplemental Appeal Brief dated February 23, 2010.
Appeal 2010-010539
Application 11/716,256

2
1. A pet bed comprising a fabric shell and fill material contained
therein, said shell defining a support region and a continuous sidewall
radially emanating therefrom, said continuous sidewall having an outer edge
and stitching defining said support region and radially extending from said
support region to substantially the outer edge of said sidewall, said stitching
defining pocket regions therein, said sidewalls being sized to extend
diagonally from said support region in a first orientation when in use and
forming a substantially planar surface with said support region in a second
orientation during storage.
Claims 1-5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by
Mangiaracina (US 6,574,810 B2, Jun. 10, 2003) (Ans. 4).
Claims 6 and 7 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated
by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious over
Mangiaracina (Ans. 6).
Appellant argues that “the stitching referred to in the cited passage [of
Mangiaracina] has nothing to do with stitching extending radially from the
support region to the outer edge of the side wall” (App. Br. 6).
ANALYSIS
The Examiner finds that Mangiaracina discloses stitching at column 4,
lines 1-2 (Ans. 5). The cited portion of Mangiaracina states that “side
supports 16a and 16b are interconnected by a fabric section having upper
and lower surfaces 20a and 20b, respectively, which may be sewn or
otherwise attached at opposite edges 21a, 21b thereof to the base edges 17a,
17b of side supports 16a, 16b, respectively” (Mangiaracina, col. 3, l. 66, to
col. 4, l. 3). However, we agree with Appellant that the Examiner has not
shown that Mangiaracina, expressly or inherently, necessarily discloses
stitching “radially extending from said support region to substantially the
outer edge of said sidewall,” as required by claim 1. Thus, we agree with
Appeal 2010-010539
Application 11/716,256

3
Appellant that the Examiner has not set forth a prima facie case that
Mangiaracina anticipates claim 1 and, therefore, we reverse the anticipation
rejection of claim 1 and of claims 2-5, which depend from claim 1.
In addition, the Examiner has not set forth a prima facie case that it
would have been obvious to include such stitching on a continuous sidewall.
Therefore, we also reverse the anticipation/obviousness rejection of claims 6
and 7, which depend from claim 1.

REVERSED

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