Appeal No. 2004-1304
Application 08/730,625
thereby acting as a uniform warning state
that is recognizable by a user as such
regardless of the initial color of the
article.
Like appellants (brief, pages 13-14), we note that
there is no teaching or suggestion in McNaughtan of a food
contacting surface of the utensil therein that changes color or,
more specifically, turns white when exposed to a substance, such
as food, that is above a predetermined temperature that is appro-
priate for comfortable consumption by a small child, as required
in claim 27 on appeal. For that reason, we will not sustain the
examiner’s rejection of claim 27 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
The examiner has rejected dependent claims 25 and 26
under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based on McNaughtan in view of Biolik,
contending that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art to have modified the utensil of McNaughtan (as
applied to claim 1 above) to have the plastic coating therein
extend over the entire spoon for easy manufacture and esthetic
purposes, as taught by Biolik (col. 3, lines 61-63). While it is
true that Biolik discloses a temperature measuring spoon having a
13
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