Appeal No. 98-1196
Application 08/457,045
rearward of the ball. To the extent that Grund would have
suggested incorporating bearing balls into the ballpoint tip
disclosed by French Patent '045, there would be no motivation
to dispose the bearing balls so as to center the writing ball
on the planar forwardly facing surface of the valve
member/body disclosed by French Patent '045 in the manner
required by claim 1. The only suggestion to combine these two
references so as to meet the claim limitation in question
stems from hindsight knowledge impermissibly derived from the
appellant's own teachings. French Patent '361, cited for its
disclosure of a pen tip having a spring and a cap, does not
cure this shortcoming in the examiner's evidence of
obviousness.
Therefore, we shall not sustain the standing 35 U.S.C. §
103 rejection of claim 1, or of claims 2 through 22 which
depend
therefrom, as being unpatentable over French Patent '045 in
view of French Patent '361 and Grund.
The decision of the examiner is reversed.
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