Appeal No. 99-0643 Page 6
Application No. 08/828,225
According to the examiner, it would have been obvious, in
view of the teachings of Capri, to use the security lock of
Nagy with an automobile ignition lock, as required by claim 10
(answer, page 3). We agree with the examiner on this point.
The test for obviousness is what the combined teachings of the
references would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in
the art. See In re Young, 927 F.2d 588, 591, 18 USPQ2d 1089,
1091 (Fed. Cir. 1991) and In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208
USPQ 871, 881 (CCPA 1981). Nagy discloses a security lock for
blocking access to a key slot, but does not specifically
disclose use of the security lock on an automobile ignition
switch key slot. Capri teaches the provision of a lock device
for blocking access to the key slot of an automobile ignition
lock cylinder to prevent theft by a person with a master key
(column 1, lines 4 through 11). In our opinion, the combined
teachings of Nagy and Capri would have suggested to one of
ordinary skill in the art use of the key slot blocking
security device of Nagy in combination with an automobile
ignition switch lock cylinder and barrel to prevent access to
the ignition switch key slot.
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