Appeal No. 1997-4250
Application No. 08/405,366
Of course, the mere fact that the prior art structure
could be modified does not make such a modification obvious
unless the prior art suggests the desirability of doing so.
See In re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed.
Cir. 1984). According to the examiner, one of ordinary skill
in the art would have found it obvious to slant the support
surfaces of the Hicinbothem file holder downwardly “in order
to cause articles positioned on the support surface to move
outwardly toward the open ends of the file folder, thereby
[to] facilitate removal” (Answer, page 4). However,
Hicinbothem already has provided for facilitated removal of
the files in the holder by slanting the upstanding walls, so
that problem has been solved. Moreover, Starkweather slants
the support surface so that the small articles that are stored
therein gravitate toward the front edges of the bins, where
they can easily be grasped and are then replaced by others
located behind them, a situation that does not exist in
Hicinbothem. We therefore fail to perceive any teaching,
suggestion or incentive in either reference which would have
led one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the
Hicinbothem file holder in the manner proposed by the
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