Appeal No. 2004-0413
Application No. 09/752,301
arrangement. In any event, ample suggestion for substituting a
direct drive electric hub motor in Yuki for the more complicated
drive arrangement thereof is found in Mager’s express teaching that
a benefit of mounting the drive motor directly on the wheel is to
avoid power losses that occur through use of “interconnecting drive
arrangements” (Mager, column 2, line 53), which we believe the
ordinarily skilled artisan would understand to include more
complicated drive trains such as the one employed by Yuki. Thus,
we consider that the examiner has presented evidence sufficient to
establish a prima facie case of obviousness of the subject matter
of claim 1.
We have, of course, considered appellants’ position as set
forth in the main and reply briefs. The argument that the
examiner’s motivation for combining the references is based on
impermissible hindsight is not persuasive given Mager’s disclosure
at column 2, lines 50-54. Further, the Chicago Sun Times newspaper
article cited during prosecution to show “that the inventors’
wheelbarrow is a new idea, which the world has been waiting for”
and that “the inventors caused some sensation with their
wheelbarrow” (main brief, page 6) has been noted, but is given
little weight since, among other things, it is not in affidavit or
declaration form, is not attributed to any named persons, and is so
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