Appeal No. 1999-1987 Page 19
Application No. 08/400,129
endeavor, it logically would have commended itself to an
inventor's attention in considering his problem because of the
matter with which it deals. In re Clay, 966 F.2d 656, 659, 23
USPQ2d 1058, 1061 (Fed. Cir. 1992). In the present instance,
we are informed by the appellant's originally filed
specification (p. 1) that the invention relates generally to
training equipment for baseball and related games. Hutt's
invention is directed to many games and sporting apparatus
that require the attachment of a line, whether the line be a
cord, a length of elastic, or the like, to a ball and thus
falls into the former category of the Wood test. Moreover,
since one problem with which the appellant's invention deals
with is the connection of the tether with the ball, Hutt's
invention logically would have commended itself to an
artisan's attention in considering that problem. Thus, we
conclude that Hutt is analogous art.
It is our conclusion that there is suggestion to combine
the ball of Hutt with the apparatus of Alexander. In that
regard, Hutt clearly teaches the advantages of connecting a
tether line to a hollow ball and thus supplies the necessary
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