Appeal No. 1999-2092 Page 18
Application No. 08/798,718
the opposite longitudinal edges of the margin. The examiner
then determined that
[i]t would have been an obvious matter of design choice
to secure the walls of Salvadori together over all the
area between the opposite longitudinal edges of the
margin, since applicant has not disclosed that bag walls
secured together over all the area between the opposite
longitudinal edges of the margin solves any stated
problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears
that the Salvadori bag would perform equally well with
walls secured together over all the area between the
opposite longitudinal edges of the margin.
The appellant argues (brief, pp. 7-9) that the rejection
cannot be sustained since the margin as claimed in claim 51
permits easy manufacture of the bag, easy separation of the
bags, and easy filling and closing of the bags. Moreover, the
appellant assert that the claimed "secured-together margin,
plus a line of weakness" is not suggested by the teachings of
Salvadori.
We agree with the appellant that the claimed subject
matter would not have been obvious at the time the invention
was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art from the
teachings of the applied prior art. A case of obviousness is
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