Appeal No. 2001-0483 Page 10
Application No. 08/996,842
obviousness is established by presenting evidence that would
have led one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the
relevant teachings of the references to arrive at the claimed
invention. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d
1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988) and In re Lintner, 458 F.2d 1013,
1016, 173 USPQ 560, 562 (CCPA 1972).
Claims 2 and 15 are drawn to a dispensing top for passing
only several kernels of a popped popcorn at a time from an
open-ended container filled with popped popcorn. The
dispensing top has a generally conical shape with the opening
at the reduced end being of a diameter greater than one inch
thereby allowing several kernels of popped popcorn to pass
through at the same time. In addition, means are provided at
the reduced end of the top to close-off the opening thereat.
The examiner determined (answer, p. 4) that Harz
discloses all the features of claims 2 and 15 except the means
for closing off the reduced end of the top and that such would
have been obvious from the teachings of Fisher.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007