Appeal No. 95-3421
Application 08/045,323
answer, we conclude that the subject matter recited in claim
21 is patentable over the prior art applied.
Under §103, the teachings of references can be combined
only if there is some teaching, suggestion or incentive to do
so. ACS Hospital Systems, Inc. v. Montefiore Hospital, 732
F.2d 1572, 1577, 221 USPQ 929, 933 (Fed. Cir. 1984). We do
not find any such teaching or suggestion here. The purpose of
the Hall apparatus is to automatically sterilize the syringe
needle after each inoculation, while still permitting rapid
successive uses of the same syringe (col. 1, lines 35 to 39).
In the Spier and Boese syringes, by contrast, the shield or
guard is located over the end of the needle after use, which
would prevent rather than allow rapid reuse of the same
needle. As we understand the examiner's position, it is that
it would have been obvious to utilize the guard-operating
system of Spier or Boese to control the action of Hall's
disinfectant reservoir/sleeve 26, but we perceive no
motivation for one of ordinary skill to do this, for the
sleeve would then be locked in the forward position after one
use and the needle could not be rapidly reused. We also do
not consider that there would be any suggestion to one of
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