Appeal No. 2004-0235 Page 8
Application No. 09/873,583
obvious at the time the invention was made to a person of ordinary skill in the art to
have modified Hughes' rubber disc to include stiffening ribs. Thus, the only suggestion
for modifying Hughes in the manner proposed by the examiner to meet the above-noted
limitation stems from hindsight knowledge derived from the appellant's own disclosure.
The use of such hindsight knowledge to support an obviousness rejection under
35 U.S.C. § 103 is, of course, impermissible. See, for example, W. L. Gore and
Assocs., Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1553, 220 USPQ 303, 312-13 (Fed. Cir.
1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
For the reasons set forth above, the decision of the examiner to reject claims 21
to 24, 29 and 37 to 41 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 is reversed.
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