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St. Onge IP Overturns Obviousness Rejection on Appeal to PTAB

July 23, 2018 by in Appeals


St. Onge IP attorneys Ben Lehberger and Gene Winter overturned an obviousness rejection by the Patent Office after a successful appeal and oral hearing before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The patent application (U.S. Application No. 12/891,366) concerns a device for dispensing metered quantities of liquids, particularly for ophthalmic medications and eyewash. All of the claims stood rejected as obvious in view of a combination of two prior art references. The PTAB, in reversing the rejection, found that the Examiner did not adequately explain why it would have been obvious to combine the references in the manner suggested and that the rejection was not supported by a rational underpinning. Click here to download the PTAB Decision.