Appeal No. 2007-1530
Application 10/095,112
housings. The reason is that the problem facing the artisan is, broadly, one of
materials science and thus would have led the artisan to additionally consider art
areas such as Class 458 (“Stock Material or Miscellaneous Articles”), which, as
noted above,
accommodates certain products of manufacture which are not
provided for in classes devoted primarily to manufacturing methods
and apparatus. The bulk of the documents are directed to stock
material composites, that is, materials having two or more distinct
components which are more ordered than a mere random mixture of
ingredients.
PTO Classification Definitions, Class 428, http://ptoweb:8081/uspc428/
defs428.htm (accessed July 7, 2007). More particularly, because metals typically
have high conductivity and high mechanical strength, the artisan would have
considered at least Subclass 539.5 (“Metal Continuous Phase Interengaged With
Nonmetal Continuous Phase”) thereof, in which Pyzik was issued, to be reasonably
pertinent to the problems at hand. For the foregoing reasons, we find that Pyzik is
analogous art. In so holding, we are mindful of In re Ellis, 476 F.2d 1370,
177 USPQ 526 (CCPA 1973), which held:
While we find the diverse Patent Office classification of the
references to be some evidence of “non-analogy,” and likewise find
the cross-reference in the official search notes to be some evidence of
“analogy,” we consider the similarities and differences in structure
and function of the inventions disclosed in the references to carry far
greater weight.
476 F.2d at 1372, 177 USPQ at 527 (cited with approval in In re Deminski,
796 F.2d 436, 442 n.3, 230 USPQ 313, 315 n.3 (Fed. Cir. 1986); and in In re Mlot-
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