1600 Biotechnology and Organic Chemistry
1700 Chemical & Materials Engineering
2400 Networking, Mulitplexing, Cable, and Security
“The doctrine of claim differentiation creates a presumption that each claim in a patent has a different scope . . . . The difference in meaning and scope between claims is presumed to be significant to the extent that the absence of such difference in meaning and scope would make a claim superfluous.” Free Motion Fitness, Inc. v. Cybex Int’l, Inc., 423 F.3d 1343, 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security, and License & Review
Ex Parte De Jonge et al 10/820,424 HORNER 102(e)/103(a) 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(b) PRICE HENEVELD COOPER DEWITT & LITTON, LLP
3700 Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing, and Products & Design
Because claims 24 and 25 include all the limitations recited in claim 23, we conclude claim 23 must have been obvious based on our conclusion of obviousness of claims 24 and 25. See Ormco v. Align Tech., 498 F.3d 1307, 1319 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (when a dependent claim is “found to have been obvious, the broader claims . . . must also have been obvious”).
AFFIRMED-IN-PART
1600 Biotechnology and Organic Chemistry
2100 Computer Architecture and Software
2600 Communications
Ex Parte Ross et al 11/265,671 OWENS 103(a) CHRISTOPHER P. RICCI
3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security, and License & Review
Ex Parte Ruppert et al 11/210,461 BAHR 102(b)/103(a)/non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting CARLSON, GASKEY & OLDS, P.C.
See Tec Air Inc. v. Denso Mfg. Michigan Inc., 192 F.3d 1353, 1360 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (Where the proposed modification would render the prior art invention being modified inoperable for its intended purpose, the proposed modification would not have been obvious.)