Appeal No. 98-2889
Application 29/022,106
Appellant maintains, however, that the declarations of Mr.
Michael J. Giamati, the sole inventor, and Mr. Gary G. Garcia,
manager of product support and customer service for the
assignee of the present invention, establish “that the claimed
article was designed for sale and display, and that the
appearance of the article had a substantial influence on the
design and ornamentality of the article [such that] . . . an
adequate showing of ornamentality has been provided” (brief,
page 2).
The examiner contends, however, that appellant has not
shown that the appearance of the article was a matter of
concern at some point in the life of the article.
In his declaration, inventor Michael J. Giamati declares
that he “designed the brush assembly housing claimed in the
captioned application to have a ‘heavy duty’ look and feel.”
For his part, assignee’s manager Gary G. Garcia declares, on
information and belief, that (1) “at least some customers have
a perception that a brush assembly having a housing with a
‘heavy duty’ appearance, will perform better,” (2) “this
perception is at least partly based on the appearance of the
brush assembly housing,” and (3) “the ‘heavy duty’ appearance
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