Appeal No. 2005-2652
Application No. 10/066,990
supporting the combination. ACS Hospital Systems, Inc. v.
Montefiore Hospital, 732 F.2d 1572, 1577, 221 USPQ 929, 933 (Fed.
Cir. 1984). This does not mean that the cited prior art
references must specifically suggest making the combination. B.F.
Goodrich Co. V. Aircraft Braking Systems Corp., 72 F.3d 1577,
1582, 37 USPQ2d 1314, 1318 (Fed. Cir. 1996); In re Nilssen, 851
F.2d 1401, 1403, 7 USPQ2d 1500, 1502 (Fed. Cir. 1988)). Rather,
the test for obviousness is what the combined teachings of the
prior art references would have suggested to those of ordinary
skill in the art. In re Young, 927 F.2d 588, 591, 18 USPQ2d
1089, 1091 (Fed. Cir. 1991); In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208
USPQ 871, 881 (CCPA 1981). This test requires us to take into
account not only the specific teachings of the prior art refer-
ences, but also any inferences which one skilled in the art would
reasonably be expected to draw therefrom. In re Preda, 401 F.2d
825, 826, 159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA 1968).
With the above precedents in mind, we turn to the examiner’s
Section 103 rejections. As is apparent from page 12 of the
Brief, the appellants acknowledge that:
Gehlsen... describes articles that include a polymer
foam matrix and one or more expandable polymer
microspheres. The foam microstructure is characterized
by a plurality of enlarged polymeric microspheres
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