Appeal No. 1998-1946
Application No. 08/629,991
In evaluating an applied reference, such as the Block
patent, it is proper to take into account not only the
specific teachings of the reference, but also the reasonable
inferences that one of ordinary skill in the art would
reasonably have been expected to draw from the teachings of
that reference. In re Preda, 401 F.2d 825, 826, 159 USPQ 342,
344 (CCPA 1968).
Given the configuration of Block’s toy and Block’s
express teaching of cutting the flying toy from a plastic
sheet, the reasonable inference that one of ordinary skill in
the art would reasonably have been expected to draw from
patentee’s teachings is that the sheet is initially cut along
planes perpendicular to the plane of the plastic sheet to form
the arms and hub of the toy. Id. In any case, it would have
been obvious to cut Block’s toy from the plastic sheet along
planes perpendicular to the plane of the sheet to simplify the
cutting operation according to the examiner’s unchallenged
finding on page 5 of the answer.
Furthermore, Block implicitly recognizes that it was
known in the prior art (as in Gleason) to form the arms of the
toy without the illustrated bevels 25 and hence with both side
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