Appeal No. 1997-1422
Application 08/279,557
one of ordinary skill in the art to make Rogers’ lap loops
tilt sideways alternately in opposite directions to provide
increased opportunity to engage the hooks on the mating fabric
as taught by Matsuda (answer, pages 6 and 8).
Even if Matsuda would have motivated one of ordinary
skill in the art to arrange Rogers’ loops such that they tilt
sideways alternately in opposite directions, the examiner’s
argument is not persuasive because the examiner has not
provided evidence that the level of ordinary skill in the art
was such that the ordinarily skilled artisan would have had a
reasonable expectation of success in making this modification.
See In re Vaeck, 947 F.2d 488, 493, 20 USPQ2d 1438, 1442 (Fed.
Cir. 1991); In re O’Farrell, 853 F.2d 894, 902, 7 USPQ2d 1673,
1680 (Fed. Cir. 1988); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 892-93, 225
USPQ 645, 648 (Fed. Cir. 1985). The Rogers and Matsuda free
loop structures differ in that in the Rogers fabric, the inner
loop of two loops of a wale is used to form the free loops
(figure 1), whereas in the Matsuda fabric, the outer loop of
three loops of a wale is used to form the free loops, and the
free loops pass through the wale in a different manner than in
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