Appeal No. 2002-1839 Page 9
Application No. 09/199,751
point toward it." General Tire & Rubber Co. v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 349
F.Supp 345, 359, 174 USPQ 427, 445 (N.D. Ohio 1972). "A reference teaches away
impliedly when a modification or combination would render inoperable the invention
disclosed in the reference." Lance Leonard Barry, Teaching A Way Is Not Teaching
Away, 79 J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc'y 867, 872 (1997).
Here, we agree with the appellants that "[i]t is basic objective [sic] of Murakami et
al that the several speakers should behave as a single sound source defined by the
throat aperture." (Appeal Br. at 7.) In its own words, the primary reference discloses
that "[t]he sound pressure produced from each of the speaker units 10, 12, . . .
concentrates on the substantial center axis of . . . the throat 30a to thereby create an
imaginary vibrating plane of high sound pressure density at that position." Col. 4, ll. 30-
35. Regarding the examiner's proposal to "modify[] Murakami with Kohut which
including [sic] a processor for applying different signals to the different speakers of
Murakami," (Examiner's Answer at 4), we agree with the appellants that such a
modification "would . . . result in the interference between the speaker outputs and the
sound coloration that Murakami et al are trying to avoid." (Appeal Br. at 7.)
Because the examiner's proposal to apply different signals to the different
speakers of Murakami would have defeated the latter's objective of arranging several
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