Appeal No. 97-3551
Application No. 08/342,759
Very teaches that his invention is adapted for
installation in a golf bag (column 4, lines 33-35). We take
official notice of the fact that golf club bags in the shape
of elongated cylindrical tubes were well known in the art at
the time of the appellant’s invention. In this regard, we
point out that Jacoby discloses in Figure 1 a golf club
carrier having a cylindrical body “like a conventional golf
bag” (column 1, lines 52 and 53). Interestingly, the Jacoby
device contains spring-biased elongated cylindrical tubes for
holding golf clubs, the purpose of which is the same as the
inventions of both Very and the appellant.
In view of the foregoing, it is our opinion that it would
have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to
install the golf club holder disclosed in Figures 3 and 4 of
Very in a cylindrical golf bag. In such case, the “first
elongated cylinder” recited in claim 5 reads on the golf bag,
and the second elongated cylinder which is “receivable” in the
first reads on the tubes of Very which are installed in the
golf bag, and around which the springs are positioned. Thus,
a prima facie case of obviousness is established with respect
to the subject matter of claim 5.
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