Appeal No. 1998-0187
Application No. 08/247,518
uniformity and reliability to cups made by the conventional
method, we agree with the examiner (Answer, p. 15) that those
results were expected at the time of the appellant’s invention
and, therefore, are not persuasive. Certainly, one of
ordinary skill in the art at the time the appellant made his
invention would have expected that a cup having a body and
handle formed together in a single molding operation, whether
plastic or ceramic, would be more homogeneous than a cup
having a body and handle joined by adhesive or slip. 6
Likewise, one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the
appellant made his invention would have expected that two cups
molded by machine using identical dies would be more uniform
in appearance than two cups made by hand. This conclusion is
based simply on common knowledge and common sense of the
6According to the Johnson declaration dated March 2,
1995, at ¶ 4, Wedgwood’s conventional process for making a
ceramic cup comprises forming the body and handle separately
from a ceramic mix by mechanical shaping means and by hand,
drying the green ware and attaching the handle to the body
using slip (or liquid clay).
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