Appeal No. 97-3708
Application 08/418,321
and Bodle, to facilitate dipping a large number of
forms and to provide additional surface area on the
forms. [Answer, page 4.]
In responding to appellants’ arguments, the examiner has
made the following additional comments:
In this case, the method of Marx and Stockum are
very similar. The primary difference is that Marx
is forming a [sic, an] overshoe and Stockum is
forming a glove. Stockum teaches the advantage of
using a relative[ly] flat form comprising first and
second parallel lateral sides and recesses covering
substantially all of the hand forming portion of the
first and second sides to facilitate dipping of a
large number of forms (column 2, lines 40-42) and to
provide additional surface area (column 5, lines 6-
15). The Bodle patent was applied above to further
reinforce the idea that using a relatively flat form
is an old and conventional step to facilitates [sic,
facilitate] dipping of a large number of forms (page
1, column 1, lines 28-34). The Bodle reference is
with regard to footwear, like Marx. The motivation
to combine is to facilitate dipping of a large
number of forms. [Answer, pages 6-7.]
At the outset, unlike the examiner, we do not see Marx as
disclosing a method “substantially as claimed.” The
utilization of a form having first and second parallel lateral
sides and recesses covering substantially all of the foot
forming portion of the first and second sides, conceded by the
examiner to be absent in Marx, is at the very heart of
appellants’ invention. In contrast to appellants, Marx
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