Appeal No. 1997-2915
Application No. 08/087,227
The subject matter on appeal relates to a multilayer
polymeric shaped structural shell having a top layer which is
striped in appearance and is textured. This appealed subject
matter is adequately illustrated by independent claim 8, the
sole independent claim on appeal, a copy of which taken from
the appellants’ brief is appended to this decision.
The references relied upon by the examiner as evidence of
obviousness are:
Altman et al. (Altman) 4,067,071 Jan. 10,
1978
Guerra et al. (Guerra) 4,892,700 Jan. 9,
1990
All of the appealed claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 as being unpatentable over Guerra or Altman.
These rejections cannot be sustained.
As correctly indicated by the appellants in their brief,
neither of the applied references contains any teaching or
suggestion of a top layer which is “striped in appearance” as
required by the appealed claims. Concerning this feature, it
is the examiner’s position that “[a]pplicants[’] claimed color
variations [i.e., the “striped in appearance” feature recited
in independent claim 8] are obvious design choices to effect a
pleasing appearance” (answer, page 4).
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