Interference No. 104,290
testimony of Hansen should be suppressed because Dr. Hansen, by
his own admission, was not one of ordinary skill in the art at
the time the invention was allegedly reduced to practice by Fox
and LeVeen in 1993. We acknowledge that Dr. Hansen has so
testified at EX5170 at 47. However, this objection by LeVeen
misses the mark. The level of ordinary skill in the art is
an objective standard.' It is the level of knowledge of a hypo
thetical person. Standard Oil Co. v. American Cyanamid Co.,
7ý4 F.2d 448, 454, 227 USPQ 293, 297-98 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
The subjective knowledge of any actual living person, such as
Dr. Hansen, at any given time is simply beside the point. Either
Dr. Hansen is an expert qualified to give an opinion about the
level of skill in the art in 1993 or he is not. Based on his
qualifications and his curriculum vitae, we are of the view that
Hansen is such an expert.
Factors that may be considered in determining level of
ordinary skill in the art include: (1) the educational level
of the inventor; (2) type of problems encountered in the art;
(3) prior art solutions to those problems; (4) rapidity with
which innovations are made; (5) sophistication of the technology;
and (6) educational level of active workers in the field. Not
all such factors may be present in every case, and one or more
of these or other factors may predominate in a particular case.
Environmental Designs, Ltd. v. Union Oil Co., 713 F.2d 693,
696-97, 218 USPQ 865, 868-69 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied,
464 U.S. 1043 (1984).
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