Appeal No. 2004-0410
Application No. 09/509,415
wrapping roll and roll transfer means of Mojden [‘010] for the
purpose of having means to secure the pallet in an upright
position” (answer, page 5). Correspondingly, with respect to
method claim 11, the examiner concludes that “[i]t would have
been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time
the invention was made to modify the palletizing method of Mojden
[‘278] to include the steps of wrapping a pallet as taught by
Mojden [‘010] for the purpose or [sic, of] further securing the
stacked rows of sticks . . . ” (answer, page 9). The examiner’s
aforequoted obviousness position is erroneous for at least two
reasons.
First, the apparatus and method of Mojden ‘278 do not
experience the problem solved by the pallet wrapping technique of
Mojden ‘010. In this regard, we observe that “the strips 52 [of
the wrapping material or tape used by Mojden ‘010] serve to
support the respective layers in position, and prevent
inadvertent depalletizing of the filled bag members 34" (column
4, lines 33-35). This inadvertent depalletizing problem cannot
exist in the Mojden ‘278 system because this system employs
nested trays 55 which contain individual pockets or channels 139
each for accommodating a stick 75 (e.g., see figures 5, 5A and 6
as well as the written disclosure relating thereto). That is,
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