Appeal No. 2001-1398
Application 09/289,171
invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the
references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of
the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in
the art. In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881
(CCPA 1981). Thus, non-obviousness cannot be established by
attacking references individually where the rejection is based
upon the teachings of a combination of references. In re Merck &
Co., Inc., 800 F.2d 1091, 1097, 231 USPQ 375, 380 (Fed. Cir.
1986). Notwithstanding any individual deficiencies of the
references relative to the claimed subject matter, Miyata’s
teaching of training shoe weights which are highly resilient and
flexible in keeping with the desired resilience and flexibility
of such shoes would have furnished the artisan with ample
suggestion or motivation to substitute weights of this sort for
Shanahan’s heavy metal weights in order to provide the Shanahan
shoe with increased resilience and flexibility while maintaining
Shanahan’s capability of adjusting and varying the weight of the
shoe.
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