Ex parte VAN HAAG - Page 6




          Appeal No. 2001-1088                                       Page 6           
          Application No. 08/879,140                                                  


          '875 is contrary to the use of the roll of Wolfgang '875                    
          (i.e., to conduct heat through the roller jacket 4 to the                   
          vaporous liquid 7 so that the roll may be used as a cooling                 
          roller in a paper machine).                                                 


               Instead, it appears to us that the examiner relied on                  
          hindsight in reaching his obviousness determination.  However,              
          our reviewing court has said, "To imbue one of ordinary skill               
          in the art with knowledge of the invention in suit, when no                 
          prior art reference or references of record convey or suggest               
          that knowledge, is to fall victim to the insidious effect of a              
          hindsight syndrome wherein that which only the inventor taught              
          is used against its teacher."  W. L. Gore & Assoc. v. Garlock,              
          Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1553, 220 USPQ 303, 312-13 (Fed. Cir.                  
          1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).  It is essential                  
          that "the decisionmaker forget what he or she has been taught               
          . . . about the claimed invention and cast the mind back to                 
          the time the invention was made . . . to occupy the mind of                 
          one skilled in the art who is presented only with the                       
          references, and who is normally guided by the then-accepted                 
          wisdom in the art."  Id.  Since the claimed subject matter is               







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