Appeal No. 2000-1660 Page 6
Application No. 08/868,081
derived from the appellants' own disclosure. In that regard, 1
we view White's teaching of tabs 96 and 98 of elements 52 and
86 engaging slots 102 in the return flange 100 of horizontal
brace 88 to rigidly connect the elements to the brace as
providing no teaching, suggestion or motivation for a person
of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was
made to have modified the engagement tabs of Aylworth. It
follows that we cannot sustain the examiner's rejections of
claims 19 to 22.
1The use of such hindsight knowledge to support an
obviousness rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 is, of course,
impermissible. See, for example, W. L. Gore and Assocs., Inc.
v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1553, 220 USPQ 303, 312-13
(Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
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