Appeal No. 2006-0983
Application No. 09/793,057
desirability of providing a skin-friendly fastening system (col.
13) and the specific disclosure therein of using softer resins to
form the prongs or hooks of the fastener system (col. 13, lines 47-
48 and col. 15, lines 18-28), we find the examiner’s conclusion of
obviousness to be well founded. In our opinion, it would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time appellants’
invention was made, based on the collective teachings Goulait and
Tachauer, to form at least the hook backing and a portion of each
of the hooks in Goulait in the manner taught in Tachauer (Fig. 5D)
so as to obtain a skin-friendly fastener of the type generally
desired by both of the applied references. Moreover, we note that
the embodiment of Figure 5D in Tachauer would appear to anticipate
the hook component set forth in claim 31 on appeal.
For the above reasons, we will sustain the examiner’s
rejection of claim 31 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Goulait in view of Tachauer. Given appellants’
lack of argument of any of dependent claims 32 through 47, we
conclude that those claims will fall with claim 31. Thus, the
examiner’s rejection of claims 31 through 47 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) is sustained.
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007