Appeal No. 1999-2633
Application 08/680,325
foam should be used, his stated purpose of this is to
obtain a distribution of active ingredient particle[s]
throughout the entire foam substrate (column 3, line 67
et seq.). Thus, the skilled artisan would recognize
that Hermann does not teach away from the use of a
closed-cell foam, but rather would recognize that the
active ingredient particles could likewise be bonded to
a closed-cell foam, if the skilled artisan desired to
limit the distribution of the active ingredient
particles to just the surface area of the foam
substrate [answer, pages 5 and 6].
The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a
secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure
of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention
must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references.
Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references
would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art.
In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881 (CCPA 1981).
In the present case, Fujimoto’s teaching of the sanitary
nature of the closed cell cosmetic puff disclosed therein and
Hermann’s teaching of a foam cosmetic applicator having active
ingredient particles bonded thereto for the convenient storage,
protection, release and application of the cosmetic would have
furnished the artisan with ample motivation or suggestion to
adhere Hermann’s cosmetic particles to the exterior surface of
Fujimoto’s closed-cell foam sponge substrate to take advantage of
the foregoing benefits. The combined teachings of the references
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