Appeal No. 1998-2791 Page 8
Application No. 08/422,676
skill in the art having those teachings before him to make the
proposed combination or modification. See In re Lintner, 458
F.2d 1013, 1016, 173 USPQ 560, 562 (CCPA 1972). Furthermore,
the conclusion that the claimed subject matter is prima facie
obvious must be supported by evidence, as shown by some
objective teaching in the prior art or by knowledge generally
available to one of ordinary skill in the art that would have
led that individual to combine the relevant teachings of the
references to arrive at the claimed invention. See In re
Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir.
1988).
Like the appellants, we note that Whyte discloses self-
inflating absorbent articles that are inflated by wetting of
the articles in use (i.e., absorbing excreted bodily fluids).
The Whyte articles do not require any deliberate action by the
person placing the articles under or on the bed patient or
infant to inflate them but, rather, are designed to inflate
automatically, in essence, upon wetting in use. Lieberman and
Kato, on the other hand, disclose devices which are inflated
only upon deliberate action by the user to rupture the
breakable barrier, without regard to whether the devices are
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