Appeal No. 1998-1188 Page 5
Application No. 08/628,556
handle is in a closed or inward position as recited in claim 1
or the handle engaging the pole along the length of the handle
when the handle is in a closed or unextended position as
called for in claim 8. To remedy the deficiencies in Hall,
the examiner cites UK ‘967 for a teaching of what the examiner
describes as a “handle” 4 conforming to the outer surface of
an elongated pole. The examiner then concludes that it would
have been obvious to replace the handles in Hall with the
"handles" of UK ‘967 to provided an “aesthetically pleasing
appearance” (final rejection, page 5).
The appellant argues that UK ‘967 discloses a walking
stick that may be used to step over barbed wire fences as
shown in Figure 4 and is nonanalogous art. We agree.
In order to rely on a reference under 35 U.S.C. § 103,
the reference must either be in the field of the applicant's
endeavor or be reasonably pertinent to the particular problem
with which the inventor was concerned. In re Oetiker, 977
F.2d 1443, 1446, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1445 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
Our review of UK ‘967 confirms that the reference
describes a walking stick which can be used for crossing
barbed wire fences. For this purpose, the body portion 3 is
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