Court Opinion

ID: 9491930
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:28:03.805274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:01.351235
License: Public Domain

RADER, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
Robertson asserts that the prior art Wilson patent does not teach three elements of claim 76: a “third mechanical fastening means,” a disposal means on the “outside surface” of the body portion, and end regions that are “in an overlapping configuration when worn.” In reversing the Board, this court relies solely on the purported failure of Wilson to teach the third fastening means. Because I believe Wilson teaches such a means, but does not teach the other two limitations at issue, I concur.
In its analysis, this court assumes without discussion that the claimed “third mechanical fastening means” covers a separate third mechanical fastening means. This issue is key, for if the claim does not require a separate third fastening means, but instead allows the first fastening means to also serve as the third, then the prior art Wilson patent clearly teaches that element of the: claim. For two reasons, this claim does not, to my eyes, require a separate third fastening means. First, the claim does not specifically recite a separate third fastening means. Second, because the claim is in means-plus-function form, this court consults the specification to identify structure. The specification explicitly teaches that the first and third fastening elements can be the same so long as they are complementary, as they are in Wilson. Accordingly, I agree with the Board that Wilson teaches the claimed “third fastening element.”
Wilson does not, however, teach either of the other two claim limitations at issue. As to the disposal means on the “outside surface” of the body portion, Wilson’s figs. 12 and 13a-d show the disposal means on the inside of the body portion. As to the end regions that are “in an overlapping configuration when worn,” Wilson explicitly teaches that the end regions should abut, not overlap, when worn. To overcome these teachings, the Board relied on the following statement in Wilson: “Further, the fastener members *747need not be previously mounted on a separate strip as shown then bonded ... to the stretchable outer cover.... Multi-compo-nent snaps are available which may be applied directly to a stretchable outer cover material....” Col. 7,1. 65 to col. 8,1. 3. The Board opined that applying snaps directly to the outer cover would result in both a disposal means on the “outside surface” and end regions “in an overlapping configuration when worn.” Simply put, the Board has put more weight on this teaching than it can bear. It is far from clear what effect applying the snaps directly to the outer cover will have on the Wilson diaper configuration, let alone that it will result in a configuration satisfying the claim elements at issue. Accordingly, because I believe that the Board clearly erred in this interpretation of Wilson, I would reverse on this ground.