Appeal No. 1998-2836
Application No. 08/453,211
550 F.2d 656, 660, 193 USPQ 12, 16 (CCPA 1977). Moreover,
artisans must be presumed to know something about the art
apart from what the references disclose (see In re Jacoby, 309
F.2d 513, 516, 135 USPQ 317, 319 (CCPA 1962)) and the
conclusion of obviousness may be made from "common knowledge
and common sense" of the person of ordinary skill in the art
(see In re Bozek, supra). It was known in the art prior to
the appellants’ invention that HAp is a main inorganic
component of bone (see Oonishi at col. 1, ll. 54-55 and the
definition of “hydroxyapatite” in The American Heritage
Dictionary of the English Language, supra). Therefore, we
conclude that the artisan would have understood that calcium
phosphate derived from powdered bone is mainly HAp and that
its use in the composition of Ito would have been an obvious
alternative to synthetic HAp.
Finally, the appellants argue (main brief, pp. 12-13)
that Oonishi fails to provide any motivation for producing a
hardenable material comprising bone powder. We are not
persuaded by this argument because a teaching of equivalency
in the prior art is itself enough to support a rejection under
35 U.S.C.
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