Appeal No. 2003-1327
Application 09/375,713
Cir. 1992), it is impermissible to use the claimed invention as
an instruction manual or "template" to piece together isolated
disclosures and teachings of the prior art so that the claimed
invention is rendered obvious. That same Court has also
cautioned against focussing on the obviousness of the differences
between the claimed invention and the prior art rather than on
the invention as a whole as 35 U.S.C. 103 requires, as we believe
the examiner has done in the present case. See, e.g., Hybritech
Inc. v. Monoclonal Antibodies, Inc., 802 F.2d 1367, 1383, 231
USPQ 81, 93 (Fed. Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 947 (1987).
Donovan’s transport holder is specifically designed for
retaining and moving large, heavy rimmed tractor tires, sometimes
weighing in excess of two tons (col. 1, line 39), from one
location to another. To that end, the support frame therein
includes a generally U-shaped base (11, 12, 13, 14) arranged to
straddle a tractor tire (Fig. 1), castors (19) secured at remote
corners of the base for providing ease of movement of the
transport holder, and an upwardly extending mast (16, 17, 22)
welded to the base and having a vertically movable carrier frame
(25) secured thereto with means (40) for clampingly holding a
rimmed tractor tire in position and means (62) for elevating the
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