Appeal No. 2003-0220 Page 4
Application No. 09/478,871
1. An inflatable fabric cushion for use in a vehicle occupant
restraint system, said cushion having a face panel and a
rear panel, wherein said face panel is in the shape of a first
twelve-sided polygon and said rear panel is in the shape of a
second, congruent twelve-sided polygon, said face panel
and said rear panel being joined along the respective
coincident cut edges.
The examiner has rejected this claim under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being obvious1 in
view of the combined teachings of lino and Wessels. It is the examiner’s position that
all of the subject matter recited in claim 1 is disclosed by lino except for making the face
and rear panels in the shape of a twelve-sided polygon, but that it would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the lino airbag in such a manner as
to meet the terms of the claim in view of the teachings of Wessels. The appellant
argues in rebuttal that Wessels is not analogous art, and that even if it were so
considered, there would have been no suggestion to modify lino in the manner
proposed by the examiner.
1The test for obviousness is what the combined teachings of the prior art would have suggested to
one of ordinary skill in the art. See, for example, In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881
(CCPA 1981). In establishing a prima facie case of obviousness, it is incumbent upon the examiner to
provide a reason why one of ordinary skill in the art would have been led to modify a prior art reference or
to combine reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention. See Ex parte Clapp, 227 USPQ 972,
973 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 1985). To this end, the requisite motivation must stem from some teaching,
suggestion or inference in the prior art as a whole or from the knowledge generally available to one of
ordinary skill in the art and not from the appellant's disclosure. See, for example, Uniroyal, Inc. v. Rudkin-
Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1052, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1439 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 825 (1988).
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