Appeal No. 97-3030
Application No. 08/254,181
heater that has heaters and conductors printed on a porcelain
enameled metal substrate" and that it would have been obvious
"to adapt Pons Pons with a porcelain enamel substrate heater
taught in Yamamoto and put a fragrance block adjacent to the
heater for improved heat transfer as in Napierski."
Appellants argue that Yamamoto is not properly combinable
with Pons Pons because Yamamoto is not directed to heated air
fresheners and therefore constitutes nonanalogous art. The
examiner cites the correct test for analogous art, i.e.,
whether the reference is within applicant’s field of endeavor
and, if not, whether the reference is reasonably pertinent to
the particular problem with which the inventor was concerned.
The examiner then concludes that Yamamoto is in the same field
of endeavor "which is in the field of electrical devices."
While we agree with the examiner that Yamamoto
constitutes analogous art, we do not agree with the examiner’s
assessment that it is within appellants’ field of endeavor
because it is in the field of "electrical devices." That is
such a broad "field of endeavor" that the skilled artisan
would not be expected to have knowledge of or be familiar with
every electrical device. However, Pons Pons clearly discloses
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