Appeal No. 2003-1857 Page 3
Application No. 09/799,350
that said hook portions are oriented in substantially the same direction when secured to
the support wire.” The examiner’s statement (final rejection, page 2 and answer, page
3) that Swick is silent on the hook portions being rotated 180o is a mischaracterization.
As illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, Swick’s clip portions 14 are not rotated 180o as called
for in appellant’s claim 1. In any event, the examiner recognizes that Swick provides no
teaching of such orientation of the hook or clip portions but determines that
it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art
at the time of the invention to modify the teachings of Swick
since the modification is merely a change in orientation to
provide a tighter loop around the branch thus providing a
more secure hold of the branch to the wire and does not
present a patentably distinct limitation. The modification to
the fastener of Swick performs the same intended function
and is merely an alternate equivalent position. The
orientation of the hook portions do not affect the function of
the hook portions for securing the branch to the support
wire. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to
modify the orientation since it is old and notoriously well-
known to twist a flexible member to reduce the
circumference of the securing area to create tighter and
better hold. Thus, the modification to Swick is merely an
obvious reverse of the orientation without any additional
modification to the function of the fastener [answer, pages 3-
4].
Even when obviousness is based on a single prior art reference, there must be a
showing of a suggestion or motivation to modify the teachings of that reference. The
motivation, suggestion or teaching may come explicitly from statements in the prior art,
the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art, or, in some cases, the nature of the
problem to be solved. In addition, the teaching, motivation, or suggestion may be
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007