Appeal No. 2002-1140
Application No. 08/947,470
characteristic, such gap in the reference may be filled with recourse to extrinsic
evidence. Continental Can Co. v. Monsanto Co., 948 F.2d 1264, 1268, 20 USPQ2d
1746, 1749 (Fed. Cir. 1991).
In any event, for the foregoing reasons, we are unpersuaded by appellants’
argument that providing a support plate to the apparatus of Deeran would be
unnecessary or duplicative of the function of case 20, and therefore find the asserted
“lack of motivation” for the combination to be untenable.
Appellants’ third and final argument begins with the assertion that both Deeran
and Bonsall “teach away” from a permanent printing of indicia for a touch input panel.
(Brief at 10-12.)
Deeran discloses a template overlay 15 (Fig. 1), placed over the border touch
zone 18, which includes markings 17. Col. 3, ll. 35-40. Bonsall discloses a custom
graphics sheet 36 (Fig. 1) between the display 54 and the touch screen 50. Col. 2, ll.
56-59; col. 3, ll. 46-55.
“A reference may be said to teach away when a person of ordinary skill, upon
[examining] the reference, would be discouraged from following the path set out in the
reference, or would be led in a direction divergent from the path that was taken by the
applicant.” Para-Ordnance Mfg. v. SGS Importers Int’l, 73 F.3d 1085, 1090, 37
USPQ2d 1237, 1241 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (quoting In re Gurley, 27 F.3d 551, 553, 31
USPQ2d 1130, 1131 (Fed. Cir. 1994)).
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