Ex Parte Lautenschlager

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jul 22, 2013

11699193 (P.T.A.B. Jul. 22, 2013)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
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Ex parte HORST LAUTENSCHLAGER
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Appeal 2011-008139
Application 11/699,193
Technology Center 3600
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Before LINDA E. HORNER, PATRICK R. SCANLON, and
BART A. GERSTENBLITH, Administrative Patent Judges.

GERSTENBLITH, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

Appeal 2011-008139
Application 11/699,193

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STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Horst Lautenschlager (“Appellant”) appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134
from the Examiner’s decision rejecting claims 1-16 and 18-20. We have
jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
The Claimed Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 11 are independent. Claim 1 is illustrative of the
claimed subject matter and is reproduced below.
1. A furniture hinge comprising:
a carrier arm;
a door fitting having a recessed cup that is
rotatably disposed at one end of the carrier arm,
a fastening plate adjustably connected to
another end of the carrier arm; and
a mounting plate that is attachable to a
furniture body and longitudinally adjustably
attached to the fastening plate,
wherein one of the fastening plate or the
mounting plate includes a guide wall having a
width and a thickness and a hole in said thickness
of said guide wall and said hole forming a guide
slot and the guide wall is bent perpendicularly to a
plane of the respective plate, and the other of the
fastening plate or the mounting plate includes a
guide tongue extending into the hole forming the
guide slot and the guide tongue is parallel to a
plane of the other respective plate.

App. Br. 7 (Claims App’x, Claim 1). Claim 11 is similarly directed to a
furniture hinge comprising, inter alia, a mounting plate “wherein the
mounting plate includes a guide tongue formed at the interior end of the
mounting plate.” Id. at 9 (Claims App’x, Claim 11).
Appeal 2011-008139
Application 11/699,193

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Reference
The Examiner relies upon the following prior art reference:
Domenig US 7,231,691 B1 June 19, 2007

Rejection
The Examiner makes the following rejection:
I. Claims 1-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as
anticipated by Domenig.
SUMMARY OF DECISION
We REVERSE.
OPINION
The Examiner found that Domenig discloses each and every element
of claims 1-16 and 18-20. Ans. 4-8. The Examiner relied upon elements 40
and 20 of Domenig as disclosing a fastening plate and mounting plate. Ans.
4 (“Domenig . . . disclose[s] . . . a fastening plate (40/20) . . . and a
mounting plate (20/40).”). The Examiner found that “one of the fastening
plate or the mounting plate includes a guide wall (44) having . . . a hole . . .
and said hole forming a guide slot (48) . . . and the other of the fastening
plate or the mounting plate includes a guide tongue (112) extending into the
hole forming the guide slot.” Id. The Examiner concluded that it was
reasonable to interpret legs 112 of clip 110 as the “guide tongue” that “one
of the fastening plate and mounting plate ‘includes,’” because includes
“encompasses separate pieces so combined as to constitute a unitary whole.”
Ans. 9-10.
Appeal 2011-008139
Application 11/699,193

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Appellant asserts that legs 112 are part of clip 110, and that neither the
mounting plate nor the fastening plate of Domenig “includes” the clip as
required by the claims. App. Br. 4; Reply Br. 1-2.
Domenig discloses a five-part hinge assembly comprising a “hinge
cup 10, pivotably connected to a hinge arm segment 50 which is in turn
slideably connected to a top plate 40, which is in turn slideably engaged to
an intermediate plate 30, the combination of which is slideably engaged to a
mounting plate 20.” Domenig, col. 5, ll. 3-9. Top plate 40 comprises a body
portion 42 having a front end, rear end, and two sides. Id. at col. 7, ll. 13-15.
The front face 44 of the top plate is provided with a circular aperture 74 for
receiving a cam screw. Id. at col. 7, ll. 25-27. Domenig discloses a
preferred embodiment in which
the circular aperture 74 is flanked by two slots 48. The slots
receive the legs 112 of a clip 110 which is employed to
slideably retain the hinge arm 50. The clip 110 is positioned
through the rear of the front face 44 and the legs 112 protrude
through the slots 48 and engage the hinge arm 50. The legs 112
are designed with slight hooks on their distal end to grasp and
engage the hinge arm 50. The hinge arm is then slideably
engaged to the front face 44 . . . .

Id. at col. 7, ll. 28-35; see fig. 2.
Claim 1 calls for one of the mounting plate or fastening plate to
include a guide tongue while the other plate includes a hole forming a guide
slot. See App. Br. 7 (Claims App’x, Claim 1). Because the Examiner relies
upon element 48 as disclosing the claimed guide slot (Ans. 4), and the guide
slot 48 is within top plate 40 as shown in Domenig’s Figure 2, the issue is
whether element 20 (the mounting plate) includes clip 110. As reflected
above, Domenig does not disclose that mounting plate 20 includes clip 110.
Appeal 2011-008139
Application 11/699,193

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The discussion relating to clip 110 simply indicates that legs 112 protrude
through slots 48 and engage hinge arm 50. It does not relate clip 110 or legs
112 with mounting plate 20.
Further, simply because a variety of pieces may come together to
constitute a whole (see Ans. 9-10), does not mean that one structural piece
necessarily includes another. Put another way, the fact that Domenig’s
hinge includes both the mounting plate and the clip, does not mean that the
mounting plate includes the clip or vice versa. In light of Domenig’s lack of
disclosure that mounting plate 20 includes clip 110, the Examiner’s finding
to the contrary is not supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
Accordingly, we do not sustain the rejection.
DECISION
We REVERSE the Examiner’s decision rejecting claims 1-16 and
18-20.
REVERSED

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