Appeal No. 1999-1965
Application 08/529,230
Yokota discloses an apparatus for rotatably holding and
paying out a roll 1 of thin, film-like products 3 such as
plastic pouches or paper towels. The apparatus includes a
winding core 2 for supporting the roll, grooved feed rolls 6
and 7, and product guides 11 and 12 having wire portions
disposed in the roller grooves.
In rejecting claims 1, 16 and 19 under 35 U.S.C. §
103(a), the examiner concludes that
[i]t would have been obvious to one having ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made
to provide the device of Boreali et al ‘293 with the
pair of drive rolls and first and second sets of
“stripper and guiding fingers” as taught by Yokota
in order to facilitate positive guiding [and]
feeding of the strip of material to be cut [answer,
page 5].
The appellants counter that this proposed reference
combination constitutes an impermissible hindsight
reconstruction of their invention.
Given the disparate teachings of Boreali and Yokota, the
appellants’ hindsight argument is persuasive. These
references provide no support for the examiner’s determination
that the feeding and guiding characteristics of Boreali’s
linerless label system would be facilitated or improved by
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