Appeal No. 1998-3413
Application No. 08/512,782
skill in the art at the time of appellant’s invention to nest
an appropriate container therein, since such a storage
technique is a well known expedient in the flower pot art.
Contrary to appellant’s argument (brief, page 29), while
Coleman does not expressly describe nesting of the containers
therein, such nesting is well known in the art for permitting
storage of flower pots within a minimum of storage
space, and the collar or ring member (10) of Coleman is sized
and dimensioned so as to permit or facilitate such nesting
with an appropriately sized second container.
Our position on the first and second "decorative
characteristics" set forth in claims 14 and 15 on appeal is
abundantly clear from our discussions of Coleman and this
issue above. As for the requirements of claims 16 and 17 on
appeal regarding the formation of a locking tab "at an
extremity of the ring member" and the formation of the locking
tab so as to form a camming surface at "an extremity" of the
ring member, we consider that these features are clearly
present in Coleman. As can be readily seen in Figures 3 and 4
of Coleman, the locking tabs or lips (15) of the collar or
15
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