Appeal No. 2001-2595
Application 09/245,640
disclosed therein “may be adapted to almost any home or
industrial work surface simply by providing it with a grid of
openings,” which openings receive pins attaching clamping members
to the work surface or may receive pins attaching other
structures to the work surface.
In further response to appellant’s arguments concerning the
examiner’s combination of the applied references, we observe that
where the issue is one of obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103, the
proper inquiry should not be limited to the specific structure
shown by a reference, but should be into the concepts fairly
contained therein, with the overriding question to be determined
being whether those concepts would have suggested to one skilled
in the art the modification called for by the claims. See In re
Bascom, 230 F.2d 612, 614, 109 USPQ 98, 100 (CCPA 1956).
Furthermore, under 35 U.S.C. § 103, a reference must be
considered not only for what it expressly teaches, but also for
what it fairly suggests (In re Burckel, 592 F.2d 1175, 1179, 201
USPQ 67, 70 (CCPA 1979); In re Lamberti, 545 F.2d 747, 750, 192
USPQ 278, 280 (CCPA 1976)), as well as the reasonable inferences
which the artisan would logically draw from the reference. See
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