Appeal No. 98-1044
Application 08/126,336
As conceded by the examiner (see page 4 in the main answer),
Schuman's apparatus does not include such leg straps. The
examiner's reliance on Bifulco to overcome this deficiency is
unsound.
Bifulco discloses a practice device 10 for holding a
person's knees in proper alignment during a golf swing. The
device includes a pair of plate-like structures 14, 15 and 16,
straps 19, 20 and 120 for securing the plate-like structures
to the golfer's legs and a flexible member 13 connecting the
plate-like structures to restrain movement of the knees during
the swing. There is nothing in Bifulco's disclosure of this
device which justifies the examiner's conclusion that it would
have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at
the time the invention was made "to provide the block of
Schuman with the pair of straps of Bifulco, in order to
provide a means for securely and releasably fastening the
device to the user's legs" (main answer, page 5). Although
both Schuman and Bifulco pertain to golf practice devices, the
nature of these devices differs substantially. The only
suggestion for combining these references in the manner
proposed by the examiner stems from hindsight knowledge
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