Appeal No. 97-0672 Page 4
Application No. 08/329,086
knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the
art and not from the appellant's disclosure. See, for example,
Uniroyal, Inc. v. Rudkin-Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1052, 5
USPQ2d 1434, 1052 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 825
(1988).
The appellant’s invention is directed to a cup that is
configured to retain a utensil, such as a toothbrush, upon its
decorative exterior surface. As defined in independent claim
1, it comprises a two-piece container having a rigid inner
member and a supple sleeve mounted about the exterior surface
of the inner member. A three-dimensional decorative image is
molded on the outer surface of the sleeve, and this decorative
image includes “a portion defining at least one gripping
member, which is configured to engage and removably hold a
utensil.”
It is the examiner’s position that Chan shows the claimed
structure except for the gripping member, but that it would
have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add
such a feature in view of the teachings of Engvall and Zent.
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