Appeal No. 2004-1165 Page 5
Application No. 09/163,042
manufacture of bottle envelopes which are capable of fitting the shape of the bottles as
shown in Figure 4.
The examiner relies on Thiebaut for a suggestion to enclose a product within
George’s corrugated board material and to conform the material to the shape of the
product. We note, in this regard, that George gives no suggestion or indication that the
packaging material disclosed therein is intended for such purpose or that such flexibility
is desirable.
Snyder discloses a method of packaging fragile articles, such as incandescent
lamps or light bulbs. The method includes providing an individual wrapper for each
lamp consisting of a piece of corrugated1 paper 1 secured to a cover of tissue paper 2
which is of greater width than the corrugated paper 1 so that the wrapper may be
loosely wrapped about an incandescent lamp and held in position by tucking inwardly
the ends 3 of the wrapper. According to Snyder (page 2, lines 35-40),
the ends of the wrapper being tucked in, in the manner contemplated by
me, furnish a cushioning means for the tip and base of the lamp, while the
corrugated portion protects the glass walls of the bulb.
Each of the examiner’s rejections is grounded in part on the examiner’s
determination that it would have been obvious to modify George’s composite corrugated
board to include a cover sheet layer made of tissue paper, as taught by Snyder, “in
1 The corrugations appear to be sinusoidal in shape rather than pleated as required in appellant’s
claims.
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