Case No. IP-2018-000199

23.The Patent has a filing date of 1 February 2008 and no priority date. The specification begins with an inaccurate statement of the problem which the invention is said to solve: the need for a temporary fastener. Temporary fasteners were by common consent well known at the filing date. 24.The figures of the Patent illustrate an embodiment by which the invention as a whole is most easily understood. This is Figure 1 with added labelling in upper case script: 25.The patented fastener comprises (in this embodiment, consists of) the three members shown. The first member is a substantially hollow sleeve. The aperture shown at the right of the first member is of a size and shape to accommodate the second member such that the second member may not rotate relative to the first member. The screw member may be passed through the first member to engage the threaded aperture of the second member. 26.This embodiment in use is illustrated in Figures 3A and 3B: 27.The fastener as a whole is passed through an aperture in workpiece 40. I will call this the upper workpiece, as did the experts, since the technician will generally be above the two workpieces. Here it is shown to the left. It is also passed through an aperture in the lower workpiece 50, shown to the right. The head 12 of the first member engages the upper workpiece such that the first member can move no further down. Rotation of the screw member into the threaded aperture of the second member causes the second member to slide upwards, towards the first member. At the same time the tapered end of the screw member pushes against the flexible fingers of the second member (22A, 22C – as shown in Figure 1; typically there are four). The fingers are thereby biased radially outwards. As the second member moves further towards the first member, the planar surfaces of the splayed fingers engage with the face of the lower workpiece. Further rotation of the screw member draws the two workpieces together so that they are fastened. 28.When the fastener is to be removed, the foregoing steps are carried out in reverse. The screw member is rotated in the opposite direction. The first and second members move apart and the flexible fingers move radially inwards. The fastener can then be withdrawn through the aperture in each workpiece. 29.It was common ground that Figures 3A and 3B are missing a feature, in that nothing but a cavity is shown between the workpieces. An exact repeat of what is shown in those diagrams would result in each workpiece being displaced toward the other as the screw member is turned so that no clamping force could be applied by the fastener. However, the experts agreed that the reader of the Patent would understand that the workpieces must be braced apart by some means or be thick enough to be in contact with one another. The claims 30. Independent validity was asserted for four of the claims: 1, 8, 16 and 18.