Appeal No. 2002-1488
Application No. 09/463,695
Claims 11 and 17-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Allen in view of Knapp.
Claims 12-16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable
over Allen in view of Knapp and further in view of Nagai and Nelms.
Reference is made to appellants’ brief (Paper No. 12, filed January 28, 2002)
and reply brief (Paper No. 14, filed May 8, 2002) and to the examiner’s answer (Paper
No. 13, mailed March 8, 2002) for the respective positions of appellants and the
examiner regarding the merits of these rejections.
Discussion
At the outset, appellants assert (brief, pages 4-8) that Knapp is nonanalogous
art. In an obviousness determination under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a), the question of
whether an applied reference constitutes analogous art is normally considered to be a
threshold issue. However, in the view we take in this appeal, even if we assume that
Knapp is analogous art, the standing rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) are not well
founded.
Allen, the examiner’s primary reference in each of the rejections, pertains to a
metal wood golf club head 10 having a crowned top wall 20 extending rearwardly from
a ball striking face wall 15, a toe wall 28 and a heel wall 25 also projecting rearwardly
from the face wall, but without a sole plate. The rear of the face wall 15 has an
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