Appeal No. 2000-1487 Page 5
Application No. 08/786,373
illuminated motorcycle gas tank or shell, formed by removable panels 24, 26 having
openings 25, 27 of a desired design therein and illumination means 42, 48 disposed
behind the openings, to provide means forming indicia carried by the vertical skirt portion
of the step of Koch’s trailer and a lamp positioned behind the means forming indicia.
Barry’s invention “relates generally to motorcycles and more particularly to installing
illumination means within the gasoline tank area of a motorcycle” (column 1, lines 10-12).
Barry provides no teaching or suggestion to apply the illumination means disclosed therein
to other types of vehicles, such as trailers, much less to the particular location on the trailer
called for in claim 1. In our view, the only suggestion for putting the selected pieces from
the references together in the manner proposed by the examiner is found in the luxury of
hindsight accorded one who first viewed the appellant’s disclosure. This, of course, is not
a proper basis for a rejection. See In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1266, 23 USPQ2d 1780,
1784 (Fed. Cir. 1992). Accordingly, we shall not sustain the examiner’s rejection of claim
1 or claims 2, 6-9 and 11-13 which depend from claim 1 as being unpatentable over Koch
in view of Barry.
The additional references relied upon by the examiner to support the obviousness
rejections of the dependent claims also do not cure the above-noted deficiencies of the
Koch-Barry combination. Godbersen discloses a boat trailer fender design which appears
to include non-slip steps projecting from the front and rear thereof, but provides no
teaching or suggestion to provide any indicia or lamp on the trailer. Lamparter discloses
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