Appeal No. 1998-3421
Application No. 08/646,995
garment hangers having size indicia thereon, the used
hangers returned by the retail stores may just as well be
sorted according the size indicia at the reuse center, thus
eliminating the need to remove the size indicia before
sending the reusable hangers back to the garment
manufacturers for reuse. Alternatively, hangers having
size indicia may simply be recycled by grinding the hangers
to obviate the need for removing the size indicia. Given
the total lack of any teaching or suggestion in the applied
prior art of removing the size indicia at the reuse or
recycling center, we conclude that the examiner has not
provided a sufficient factual basis to support a prima
facie case of obviousness. See In re Warner, 379 F.2d
1011, 1017, 154 USPQ 173, 178 CCPA 1967). As a result,
consideration of Venner is not required at this time to
decide the obviousness issue before us.
The examinerŝ decision rejecting appealed claims 1
through 12 under 35 U.S.C. ~ 103 is reversed.
This application is remanded to the examiner to
consider the appropriateness of a ~ 103 rejection of the
appealed claims based on the U.S. Patent No. 5,558,280
5
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