Appeal No. 96-1766
Application 08/218,822
painting of the cartoon characters are drawn on the body suits
in colors that are visible to the camera. Independent claim 1
is reproduced below:
1. A technique for producing an animated film whose
cartoon character and its movements are impersonated by a
living actor, having a particular appearance, said technique
comprising the steps of:
A. enveloping the actor in a body suit dyed a
specific solid color which totally covers the actor from head
to toe except for small openings permitting the actor to see
and breathe;
B. painting on the surfaces of the body suit in
colors other than the specific color a drawing of said cartoon
character whose appearance is that of the cartoon character
and is unrelated to the appearance of the actor; and
C. photographing the body-suite covered actor with a
special-effects, matte cinemaphotography system adapted to
exclude surfaces colored with the specific color from the
camera filming the cartoon character, thereby rendering the
covered actor invisible to the camera, the filmed cartoon
character being animated in real time by the invisible actor’s
movements, said specific color being blue and the
cinemaphotography system is of the blue-screen type, said
system yielding a film which is a composite of the animated
cartoon character and background scenes appropriate to the
character.
Opinion
We reverse.
The obviousness rejections
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007