Appeal No. 2001-0609
Application No. 08/903,484
output bearing assembly or speedometer sensor arrangement in
the prior art transmission was a problem. Thus, we do not see
that the teachings of Dougherty '358 regarding preventing
contamination with respect to a speed sensor of an antilock
brake system (col. 1, lines 53-57) or the bearing assembly for
mounting a road wheel of an automotive vehicle provides any
reason, suggestion or motivation for attempting a modification
of the transmission seen in appellants' Figure 1A.
In regard to the foregoing, we note that the mere fact
that the prior art could be modified in the manner urged by
the examiner would not have made such modification obvious
unless the prior art suggested the desirability of the
modification. See
In re Gordon, 773 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed.
Cir. 1984) and In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1264, 23 USPQ2d
1780, 1784 (Fed. Cir. 1992). In this case, like appellants,
we consider that the modification of the transmission in
Figure 1A of appellants' application urged by the examiner is
merely a hindsight reconstruction based on the impermissible
use of appellants' own disclosure and teachings as a blueprint
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