Appeal No. 2005-2470
Application No. 10/115,068
Korobow, we find that Lerman itself discloses that the sleeve is
of a soft absorbent fabric material. Lerman expressly discloses
"a soft, flexible, resilient, porous skin-protecting inner layer
32" made from knitted, cloth fabric that is porous to air and
water (see column 4, lines 39 et seq.). Likewise, outer layer 34
of Lerman can be made from the same material (see column 4, lines
50-57). Moreover, we cannot disagree with the examiner that it
would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to
use a cotton fabric for layers 32 and 34 of Lerman.
We also agree with the examiner that Nix evidences the
obviousness of sizing the insert of Lerman to be less than the
length of layers 32 and 34. We find that it would have been an
obvious matter of design choice for one of ordinary skill in the
art to have insert 28 of Lerman somewhat shorter than layers 32
and 34. Such a design would reduce the amount of material needed
and lower cost.
We note that appellant bases no argument upon objective
evidence of nonobviousness, such as unexpected results, with
respect to the § 103 rejections.
As a final point, we observe that appellant's Supplemental
Brief of December 17, 2004 requests that we consider the claims
as they were presented in an amendment under Rule 116. However,
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