Appeal No. 2000-2045 Page 8
Application No. 09/206,253
lines 65 and 66). Figure 3 shows that when the top and bottom portions are folded back
against the product-carrying portion, the band will contact the protected package around
substantially its entire circumference (column 4, lines 34-39). Cornish further teaches that
a single tamper-indicating label can be used to close two openings (Figure 3).
We share the examiner’s opinion that it would have been obvious to modify the
Bates medical container by replacing at least one of the none-encircling tamper-evident
labels with a label that encircles the entire container, contacting the cap and the sides, and
having its ends attached to one another, in view of the combined teachings of Bates and
Cornish. From our perspective, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized from
these two references that advantages flow from encircling the container with a single
tamper-indicating label, such as achieving the enhanced tamper protection provided by
two spannings of the cap and sides, for skill is presumed on the part of the artisan, rather
than the lack thereof (In re Sovish, 769 F.2d 738, 742-43, 226 USPQ 771, 774 (Fed. Cir.
1985)). This being the case, we will sustain the rejection of claim 15.
We reach the opposite conclusion, however, with regard to claim 17, which
depends from claim 15 and adds thereto “centrally located indicia indicating that said
indicia is to be placed on said removable cap of said medical container.” As we
understand the appellants’ invention, this feature will result in the ends of the label being
located at a particular place with respect to the bottom and sides of the container. Such is
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