Appeal No. 1998-1608 Page 9
Application No. 08/429,926
With regard to this difference, the examiner then determined
that
such detachable affixation would, however, have been
obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art given
the teaching of Incorvaia which discloses a similar sheet
member also having an overlapping flap configuration
secured by a hook and loop strap which affixes to the
outer surface of the flaps. Accordingly, claim 1 is
rendered obvious.
We agree with the appellant that claim 1 is not obvious
over the applied prior art. In that regard, it is our view
that the teachings of Incorvaia would not have rendered it
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the
invention was made to have modified Hicks in a manner to
arrive at the subject matter of claim 1. Specifically,
Incorvaia would only have suggested replacing Hicks releasable
fastening means on patches 50a and strip 52 with Velcro®
strips as taught by Incorvaia's strips 18. Thus, it is our
opinion that Incorvaia would not have suggested any changes to
Hicks' fastening strap (i.e., padded member 60 and straps 62
and 64). Thus, there is no evidence in the applied prior art
that would have rendered it obvious to one of ordinary skill
in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified
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