Appeal No. 97-4042
Application 08/578,248
is proper to take into account not only the specific teachings
of the references but also the inferences which one skilled in
the art would reasonably be expected to draw therefrom (In re
Preda, 401 F.2d 825, 826, 159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA 1968)), and
all of the disclosures in a reference must be evaluated for
what they fairly teach one having ordinary skill in the art
(In re Boe, 355 F.2d 961, 965, 148 USPQ 507, 510 (CCPA 1966)).
Here, Mackey teaches a tray having various recesses and
beverage receiving wells including a food receiving recess 24
which is “centrally disposed” with respect to the lateral
edges of the tray. Gregg teaches a tray having various
recesses and beverage receiving wells including a beverage
receiving well 15 which is “centrally disposed” with respect
to the lateral edges of the tray. Taken together, Mackey and
Gregg establish that it is known in the art to vary the
location of recesses and beverage receiving wells on a tray as
desired. In our view, a combined consideration of Mackey and
Gregg would have fairly suggested to the artisan to replace
the centrally disposed food receiving recess 24 of Mackey with
a centrally disposed beverage receiving
14
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