Appeal No. 2004-1304
Application 08/730,625
changes color when the spoon contacts hot food, and is of the
view that this disclosure also provides an additional teaching
for modifying the “Soft Bite Utensils” in the manner noted above.
We agree with the examiner that the combined teachings
of “Soft Bite Utensils,” the “Too Hot” package and Heinmets would
have rendered the subject matter defined in claims 1 through 5, 7
and 8 on appeal obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at
the time of appellants’ invention. Given the express notation on
the “Too Hot” package that the safety spoons therein are made of
“Soft Plastic for Teeth and Gums,” we find appellants’ argument
that the safety spoons are made of “hard” plastic material and
thus would not have been suggestive of the claimed subject
matter even if combined with the “Soft Bite Utensils” (brief,
pages 34-36), to be unpersuasive. As for Heinmets, while the
temperature range of 60-70º C specified therein is above that
taught on the “Too Hot” package (i.e., 105º F), we nonetheless
agree that this patent does teach that it was known in the art
to coat a metal spoon with a thermochromic plastic layer that
changes color when the spoon contacts hot food (col. 1,
lines 37-47), and therefore provides an additional teaching or
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