Appeal No. 98-1252 Page 9
Application No. 08/642,184
is possible with present tubes of the collapsible
type. [Page 2, column 2, lines 9-13.]
Thus, White teaches that in order to achieve the advantage of
standing a squeezable toothpaste container in an upright
position, the end structure or bottom surface should be
provided with a broad flat surface. In our view, a combined
consideration of Cordero and White would have fairly suggested
to one of ordinary skill in this art to provide the end
structure 7 (i.e., the cap or bottom wall) of Cordero with a
broad flat surface in order to achieve White's expressly stated
advantage of providing a toothpaste container which will stand
upright, thus permitting more convenient disposal. While the
appellant makes much of the fact that Cordero has a protrusion
6 (which serves a handle for grasping and removing the bottom
wall 7), we must point out that skill, rather than the
converse, is presumed on the part of those practicing in the
art. In re Sovish, 769 F.2d 738, 743, 226 USPQ 771, 774 (Fed.
Cir. 1985). Therefore, we perceive that one of ordinary skill
in this art when making the bottom wall 7 of Cordero broad and
flat in accordance with the teachings of White, would simply
have simply recessed the protrusion 6 as suggested by the
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