Appeal No. 2005-0952
Application No. 09/908,282
Applying this test in the present case, it is our opinion
that the mere arrangement and content of the printed matter on
appellant’s first and second labels does not provide any new and
unobvious functional relationship between the printed matter and
the labels. The only functional relationship we perceive in
appellant’s claimed form is that the first and second labels act
to support and carry the printed matter. This is, of course, the
same relationship that exists between the printed matter and the
labels in Korondi. The fact that the content or substance of the
printed matter placed on the labels in appellant’s form may be
different than that placed on Korondi’s labels does not alter the
fact that the labels of both merely support the printed matter.
Since we discern no new and unobvious functional relationship
between the printed matter and the labels of appellant’s claimed
form, we are led to the same conclusion as the examiner, i.e.,
that such printed matter is not entitled to patentable weight
when considered in light of the teachings of the applied prior
art. Mere support by the substrate for the printed matter is
simply not the kind of new and unobvious functional relationship
necessary for patentability.
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