Appeal No. 1998-2057 Page 6
Application 08/331,541
We will first consider the standing 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
rejection of claim 23. Claim 23 calls for a golf club
belonging to the category of irons having, inter alia, a face
angle or loft greater than or equal to 35E, a lie angle less
than or equal to 60E, and a head mass less than or equal to
.260 kg (260 g).
Turning now to the evidence of obviousness, Pfau’s object
is to provide a matched set of wood golf clubs with the
relative length of each club chosen to permit a uniform
address and hence a uniform grooved swing regardless of the
different circumstances under which the clubs are used (col.
1, lines 43-49). In order to accomplish his stated objective,
Pfau makes a number of assumptions. First, Pfau assumes that
the #3, #4 and #5 woods would be used to stroke the ball where
the ball 10 is in a typical fairway lie with the ball resting
approximately ¼ inch above the grass root top level G (col. 2,
lines 23-30). Therefore, Pfau teaches that the length of the
#3, #4 and #5 woods should be the same and chosen to provide
the desired address in terms of the relative position of the
ball, feet and hands (id. at 30-34). Second, Pfau assumes
that the #2 wood is used when the ball 26 is on the fairway on
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007