Appeal No. 96-1881
Application No. 08/095,476
our conclusion that the evidence adduced by the examiner is
sufficient to establish the obviousness of the claimed subject
matter. Accordingly, we will sustain the examiner's rejection of
claims 37 through 40 and 45 through 54 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Our reasoning for this determination follows.
We turn first to the examiner's rejection of independent
claim 37 which was rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Bolla in view of Reed and Rudy '250.
Bolla discloses a shoe sole including a bladder. The
bladder is made of an upper and lower surfaces of elastomeric
material (Bolla's pliable or flexible layers 1 and 2 of plastic
sheet material). The upper and lower surfaces define three
pressurized fluid-filled chambers (Bolla's air pockets 3, 4 and
5). As can be seen in Figures 1 and 2, each chamber has a
different volume from the other chambers. The upper and lower
surfaces are in contact at one location to define a blocking seal
(Bolla's edge 12 along the lower right side of the sole as shown
in Figure 1). Each of the three chambers have an end disposed
adjacent that blocking seal so that the blocking seal precludes
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