Appeal No. 1998-2262
Application 08/745,303
direction when the panty is put on and retract about the body
of the wearer when released. Watanabe discloses a disposable
diaper having body elastic in the form of uniformly spaced
elastic yarns 16a, 16b positioned between a waist elastic 8a,
8b and leg openings 10a, 10b and extending circumferentially
about the panty such that the body elastic can stretch in the
circumferential direction when the panty is put on and retract
about the body of the wearer when released. The purpose of
the body elastic in each of these references is to improve the
fit of the undergarment/diaper. These teachings would have
provided the artisan with ample suggestion or motivation to
employ body elastic of the sort recited in claim 64 in the
Southwell panty for an improved fit. Notwithstanding the
appellants’ arguments to the contrary (see page 16 in the
brief), the Southwell panty as so modified would meet the
relatively broad requirements in claim 64 that the body
elastic provide retractive forces distributed generally
uniformly about the panty to thereby closely conform the front
and back body portions of the panty to the shape of the
wearer’s body between the waist elastic and the leg openings.
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