Appeal No. 96-3395 Page 7
Application No. 08/347,900
579 F.2d 86, 91, 198 USPQ 210, 214 (CCPA 1978) ("[T]he PTO
usually must evaluate ... the level of ordinary skill solely
on the cold words of the literature."). Of course, every
patent application and reference relies to some extent upon
knowledge of persons skilled in the art to complement that
which is disclosed therein. In re Bode, 550 F.2d 656, 660,
193 USPQ 12, 16 (CCPA 1977). Persons skilled in the art,
moreover, must be presumed to know something about the art
apart from what the references teach. In re Jacoby, 309 F.2d
513, 516, 135 USPQ 317, 319 (CCPA 1962). With this in mind,
we address the obviousness of claims 1-7 and 12-17 and the
obviousness of claims 8-11 and 18-22 seriatim.
Obviousness of Claims 1-7 and 12-17
Regarding claims 1-7 and 12-17, the appellant “concede[s]
that Sanford and Morabito combine ....” (Appeal Br. at 10.)
He argues, however, that the references “do not combine with
Spencer.” (Id.) The argument is based on the “difference in
scale” of the references. (Id.) In response, the examiner
notes that he “relies on the secondary references to show
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