Appeal No. 97-2780
Application 08/456,109
the base since this would allow additional information to be
displayed with regard to the balls placed on the base”
(answer, page 4). With regard to the difference pertaining to
the material used to form the displayed objects, the examiner
asserts that because “soft foam rubber balls are well known in
the art, it is considered to have been obvious to one [of
ordinary skill] in the art to modify Alton by using soft foam
rubber balls instead of baseballs since foam balls are just
one of the many types of balls that could be stored on the
base” (emphasis added; answer, page 4). The examiner
additionally maintains on page 5 of the answer that “[i]t is
considered to be within one skilled in the art [sic, within
the skill of the art] to place any known type of spherical
object on the stand of Alton . . .”
Even if it is assumed arguendo that it would have been
obvious to provide labels on Alton’s base, we nonetheless
cannot agree that the examiner has made out a prima facie case
of obviousness with respect to the claimed subject matter. In
the first place, the mere fact that Alton’s display device
“could be” modified to form the balls from a soft foam
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