Appeal No. 2006-0911 Παγε 6
Application No. 09/248,595
on to disclose that, if the game ball of the present invention is exposed to six cycles of
the rain test of 45 minute duration and the ball is allowed to dry at about 70oF for 24
hours between cycles, the ball will maintain an absorption ratio in the range of 1.01:1 to
1.2:1.
One of ordinary skill in the art would understand from the disclosures noted
above that game balls comprising leather covers made with the Pittard's WR2000TC
and WR100 leathers referred to on page 10 of appellants' specification would have
sufficient water resistance that the ball would maintain an absorption ratio of no more
than 1.20:1 and thus would have an average per cycle ratio at the conclusion of the six
rain test cycles of no more than 1.20:1. Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art
would have known how to make and use the invention recited in claim 3 without undue
experimentation by, for example, obtaining the leather cover material having a Pittard's
WR2000TC or WR100 designation. As for the written description requirement, the
above-noted disclosures in appellants' specification would certainly have conveyed that
appellants were in possession, at the time appellants' application was filed, of a game
ball comprising a tanned natural leather having the recited water resistance properties.
We turn next to the issue raised by the examiner that claim 3 does not recite a
bladder and thus encompasses both game balls having a bladder and game balls
without a bladder. The paragraph bridging pages 10 and 11 of appellants' specification
addresses the performance of the entire game ball in the face of wet conditions and
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