Appeal No. 2003-0220 Page 7
Application No. 09/478,871
purposes of his invention, or imply that increasing the number of sides beyond six
would be equally or more advantageous. The examiner has provided no evidence in
support of his statements that forming the shape with twelve sides to optimize the use
of material is “a well known concept” and that it is “conceptually understood” that a
circle is a polygon with an infinite number of sides, although we fail to appreciate the
relevance of the latter statement.
In view of the lack of supporting evidence provided by the examiner, and
considering the appellant’s assertion that utilizing twelve sides provides specific
improvements to the manufacture of cushions for airbags, we cannot agree with the
examiner that the combined teachings of lino and Wessels establish a prima facie case
of obviousness with regard to the subject matter recited in claim 1. From our
perspective, suggestion for combining the references in such a manner as to meet the
terms of claim 1 is found only in the hindsight afforded one who first viewed the
appellant’s disclosure. This, of course, is not a proper basis for a rejection.2
We therefore will not sustain the rejection of claim 1 or of claims 2 and 3, which
depend from claim 1 and stand similarly rejected.
We reach the same conclusion on the basis of the same reasoning with regard
to independent claims 7 and 17 and dependent claims 8-11 and 18-20, which contain
the
2In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1264, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1784 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007