Appeal No. 2001-0339 Page 4
Application No. 09/250,583
on a first major surface of the mat for resisting sliding motion between the mat and the lip,
the textile material having a second major surface opposite the first and capable of
resisting sliding motion between the mat and the skin of a bather. It is the examiner’s view
that Boschelli discloses all of the subject matter recited in claim 1 except for the mat being
made of a textile material, but that it would have been obvious to modify the Boschelli mat
by making it of textile material rather than rubber in view of the teachings of Pugh because
textile material is “a common mat material” (Answer, pages 4 and 5). For the following
reasons, we do not agree.
Boschelli discloses a mat for use in the bottom of a bathtub for the dual purposes of
preventing the user from slipping in the tub and providing a massaging or rubbing surface
(lines 1-7). To accomplish these objectives, apertures are provided through the mat, a
plurality of suction cups are attached on the under side, and a plurality of upstanding short
studs or nipples extend upwardly from the top side of the mat.
Pugh is directed to providing a safety surface in the bottom of a bathtub. The Pugh
invention comprises “a foot piece of soft flexible water-proof material, preferably a sheet of
soft rubber” (page 1, lines 27-30) which is placed on the floor of the bathtub. It is held in
place means attached to the lip of the bathtub. In the discussion of the prior art, Pugh
states that heavy towels have been used for this purpose, but are unsatisfactory because
they become wet and unsanitary (page 1, lines 18-22). It is upon this mention of the use of
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