more than one feminine hygiene product into a single package to maintain the productsin
a hygienic condition.” (Appellant’s Brief, p. 10).
With regard to the deficiency of the prior art, the appellants contend that Jones
lacks any disclosure or suggestion for placing a plurality of feminine hygiene pads in the
main container (12). Rather, Jones discloses a container of disposal bags. (Appellant’s
Brief,pp. 7-8). The appellants contend that Burrow fails to cure the deficiency of Jones,
becau se Burrow discloses only that a single package can be used to package a new pad
and then used to wrap the used pad for disposal. The appellants contend that Burrow
fails to teach or suggest storing a plurality of pads in a single package in a hygienic
condition. (Appellant’s Brief, p. 8). The appellants further contendthat May fails to cure
the deficiency of Jones and Burrow and that the examiner merely relied on May for its
teaching of a slide closure. (Appellant’s Brief, p. 8).
In response to the appellants’ arguments, the examiner cites to col. 1, lines 23-30
of Burrow, which teaches that it is advantageous to individually package disposable
feminine hygiene articles by wrapping a single cover sheet around the article and sealing
it to itself such that the user can re-use the package for disposal by inserting a used
version of the article inside the cover sheet, wrapping it closed, and re-sealing it. The
examiner contends that this teaching of Burrow provides a suggestion to use the
disposable containers (20) of Jones to store new pads prior to use, in addition to using the
containers (20) for disposal of used pads to eliminate the need for separate individual
packages and to economize material. (Examiner’s Answer, pp. 11-12).
We agree with the examiner’s position.
To determine whether a prima facie case of obviousness has been established, we
were guided by the factors set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 17 (1966),
viz., (1) the scope and content of the prior art; (2) the differences between the prior art
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