Appeal No. 2003-1293 3
Application No. 09/675,739
§103(a) as being unpatentable over Miller in view of McClure and Yang.
Claim 15 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103(a) as being unpatentable over
Miller in view of McClure and Tomar.
OPINION
We have carefully considered all of the arguments advanced by the appellant and
the examiner and agree with the appellant that the rejections of the claims under §103(a)
are not well founded. Accordingly, we reverse each of the rejections.
The Rejections under § 103(a)
It is the examiner’s position that inasmuch as McClure discloses cores of rubber,
thermoplastic, thermoset or polyurethane materials, “[i]t would have been obvious to one
of ordinary skill in the art to form the core of Miller from a thermoset material in order to
take advantage of the material’s well known physical characteristics.” See Final rejection,
mailed March 29, 2002, page 2. We disagree.
Miller is directed to a game ball which may be a baseball or softball having a plastic
sphere and a cover. See column 1, lines 11-14. The game ball is formed from a single
sphere of thermoplastic material. See column 1, lines 64-65. We find that the interior of
the ball is a hollow sphere which is optionally filled with cellular material. See column 2,
lines 7-12. The specific thermoplastic polymers which may be utilized in the polymers
include Surlyn, ethylene vinyl acetate and mixtures thereof. See column 2, line 62 to
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