Appeal No. 2002-1087
Application No. 09/320,104
specifically for use in the sport of tennis (column 2, lines 30-
33). As succinctly stated in the abstract:
...[t]he article of footwear is asymmetrical and the
lateral and medial portions have features to performs
different functions to enhance flexibility, balance
control, propulsion, stability and support in the
specific areas where needed. In part, the medial
portion of the article of footwear is designed to
provide flexibility while the lateral portion is
designed to create stability. These differences in the
medial and lateral portions of the article of footwear
exist in the upper, e.g., lacing system, material
composition, and material thickness differences, and/or
in the sole . . . .
Based on these teachings, the examiner concludes that it
would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to
provide second flare regions extending forward of the already
existing first flare regions of Peterson in order to enhance
flexibility, balance control, propulsion, stability and support.
The examiner’s conclusion that it would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the art in view of Crowley and Hudson to
modify the shoesoles of Peterson in the manner proposed to arrive
at the claimed subject matter is unsound. Peterson, like
appellants, have provided a specific design for a golf shoe in an
effort to overcome a problem specific to the game of golf (i.e.,
6–
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