Appeal No. 2002-0421
Application No. 09/264,294
as applied according to the examiner's rationale, would not have
been suggestive of the claimed invention. Thus, we cannot
sustain the obviousness rejection of appellant's claims.
REMAND TO THE EXAMINER
We REMAND this application to the examiner to consider the
patentability of the claimed infant's toy and pacifier under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) taking into account the combined disclosures
of Silverstein and the acknowledged prior art combination of a
pacifier with a tab secured to a plastic ring or the like
(specification, page 3). It would appear that the latter prior
art securement would reasonably be expected to be a fixed
securement that would prevent removal; verification of this would
be appropriate. The examiner should determine whether it would
have been obvious to replace the detachable securement
arrangement of Silverstein with the alternative of a fixed
securement arrangement that prevents removal, for the advantage
thereof.
In summary, this panel of the board has reversed the
rejections on appeal and REMANDED the application to the examiner
to address the matter discussed above.
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