Appeal No. 1999-0266 Page 7
Application No. 08/290,678
The objective evidence of nonobviousness supplied by the
appellant establishes the following: (1) Commercial Success2
as set forth in paragraphs 2-15 of the second declaration of
John Schiek; (2) Copying by the appellant's competitors as set
forth in paragraphs 16-20 of the second declaration of John
Schiek; and
(3) Customer and expert response as set forth in paragraph 21
of the second declaration of John Schiek.
It is well settled that, to consider objective evidence
of nonobviousness, the appellant has the burden of showing
that there is a nexus, i.e., a legally and factually
significant connection, between the proven success and the
claimed invention. In re Paulsen, 30 F.3d 1475, 1482, 31
USPQ2d 1671, 1676 (Fed. Cir. 1994). We consider that
appellant has carried that burden here. The invention in
issue is a relatively simple one, involving a support belt
which is conventional except for the presence of reduced side
2As to this objective evidence of nonobviousness the
examiner states (answer, p. 6) that she "finds no faults with
the secondary evidence presented."
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007