Appeal No. 2003-1234
Application 09/755,519
and does not necessarily outweigh the evidence of obviousness
(FR4); and (2) appellant has failed to establish a nexus between
the merits of the claimed invention and the objective evidence
because "the quotes and endorsements ... are predominantly
directed to benefits of the hand stamp per se and not necessarily
the particular note taking method (i.e., stamping with one hand
while writing with the other)" (FR4).
DISCUSSION
The claim is to a use of a known manufacture
Initially, we note that appellant acknowledges that Eckels
was known prior art (specification, page 1). Eckels teaches a
benzene ring stamp in the shape of hexagon (Figs. 7 and 8;
col. 3, lines 28-30). The benzene ring in claim 1 is more
specific than the hexagon shape benzene ring in Figs. 7 and 8 of
Eckels because it recites the letter "C" at each point and
alternating double and single bond lines. However, appellant
does not contest that it would have been obvious to represent the
benzene ring in Eckels with a more detailed ring.2 Since the
benzene stamp itself would have been obvious, appellant seeks to
patent a "new use of a known ... manufacture" as a "process"
2 The structural formula of benzene is often represented as
a circle drawn inside a hexagon, where the hexagon represents the
six C-C bonds and the circle represents the three decentralized
electron pairs.
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