Appeal No. 2000-1449
Application No. 08/838,133
Sport Cap” is attributable to the “hook-shaped flange of the
present invention.” However, the appealed claims do not require a
“hook-shaped” flange on any of the tamper-evident rings. Moreover,
for all the record shows, the $11 million in revenue and increased
rate of sales for the “28mm Sport Cap” could just as easily be
attributable to increased popularity of the sports beverages
contained in the bottles to which the closures were applied.
As to Mr. Long’s statement in paragraph 5 that the advantages
of the appellant’s cap “satisfy a long felt need” in the art, in
order to establish long felt but unresolved need it must be
demonstrated that a problem has been recognized in the art and
remained unsolved over a long period of time,6 and that the claimed
invention satisfied the long felt need.7 Mr. Long’s statements do
not address these issues. Instead, they merely allege, without any
factual support, that the claimed invention satisfied a long felt
need.
6Vandenberg v. Dairy Equip. Co., 740 F.2d 1560, 1567, 224
USPQ 195, 199 (Fed. Cir. 1984).
7In re Cavanagh, 436 F.2d 491, 496, 168 USPQ 466, 471 (CCPA
1971).
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