Appeal No. 1999-0931
Application 08/772,861
planar member being capable of tearing a portion of a bulk
sheet held beneath the planar member into a sander-sized
sheet. Based upon this assessment of the Schell, Jr.
disclosure, claim 1 is determined to be anticipated thereby.
Claims 3 through 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as
being unpatentable over Schell, Jr. in view of Fishcher.
In applying the test for obviousness, we reach the 4
conclusion that it would have been obvious to one having
ordinary skill in the art, from a combined consideration of
Schell, Jr. and Fischer to fabricate the plate 10 of Schell,
Jr. from a transparent plastic material. As we see it, the
incentive on the part of one having ordinary skill in the art
for making this modification would have simply been to obtain
the advantage of being able to see the underlying material
4 The test for obviousness is what the combined teachings of references would
have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Young, 927 F.2d 588, 591,
18 USPQ2d 1089, 1091 (Fed. Cir. 1991) and In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871,
881 (CCPA 1981).
9
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