Appeal No. 2005-1298
Application No. 09/423,523
and/or irrigation water). Furthermore, the examiner
acknowledges that the sheets of each of Flesher, Werenicz, or
Warzelhan possess the characteristic of being impermeable to
liquid water. Answer, page 4. In contrast to the dissenting
opinion, we believe the intended function of permeability to
liquid water applies to both embodiments of Tesch (polymeric
material with slits, or the fibrous construction with or without
slits). For example, we note that the intended function of
allowing for passage of liquid water, described at column 2,
line 60 through column 3, lines 1-10, is immediately followed by
a description of both embodiments, found in column 3, lines 11-
20, of Tesch.
In view of the above, we therefore agree with appellants
that there is no motivation to combine the references as
proposed by the examiner. We therefore reverse the rejection.
We need not reach the issue of non-analogous art in making this
determination.
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