Appeal No. 2005-2537
Application No. 09/921,429
cylindrical base wall for accessing the needle storage compartments
one at a time to allow needles to be inserted into and removed from
the storage compartments.
In combining Nguyen and Current to reject independent claims
19, 21 and 22, the examiner submits that
[i]t would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art at the time the invention was made to modify the
tool of Nguyen et al by rotating the vertical
compartments to the horizontal position and providing the
magazine with radial extending cavities and a cover as
taught by Current in order to reduce the overall height
of the container. Such a modification is deemed a mere
rearrangement of parts, and it has been held that
rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine
skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 [final
rejection, page 3].
Responding to the appellant’s argument that Nguyen and Current
would not have suggested this modification, the examiner also
contends that
[i]n this case, the motivation can be found in the
knowledge that was generally available to one of ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made,
where it was a well established principal of design for
portable objects to limit overall size. A change in size
is generally recognized as being within the level of
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