Appeal No. 98-1031
Application 08/674,667
plate’s material. [Translation, page 7, lines 1-6.]
Needham discloses a pallet made of plastic material and
including hollow tapered feet 30.
The Rejections
Claims 1, 2, 5-11, 17-19, 21 and 22 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Christie in view of
Metallwerke. Claims 4, 15, 16 and 23 stand similarly rejected
with further reliance on Needham.
The examiner’s foundation position is set forth on page 4
of the answer and reads as follows:
The patent to Christie teaches structure
substantially as claimed including a lower member
(10) having a plurality of protrusions and holding
fingers (26, 26b), an upper member including a leg
with an engagement surface (fig. 7), the only
difference being that the engagement surface does
not comprise a notch in a side wall. However, the
patent to Metallwerke (figs. 2-3) teaches the use of
such structure. It would have been obvious and well
within the level of ordinary skill in the art to
modify the structure of Christie to include a notch
in the side wall as the engagement structure, as
taught by Metallwerke, used as an alternative
conventional connecting structure in the same
intended purpose, thereby providing structure as
claimed. The particular size of the pallet
structure, shape and number of the fingers are
matters of choice and desirability depending on how
much and where attachment is needed which would have
been well within the level of ordinary skill in the
art.
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