Appeal No. 2006-1148
Application No. 10/382,492
turned off at its switch cannot be remotely controlled, and such cannot occur in the airport
lights in Tann.
In combining references, the skilled artisan would not just blindly combine teachings
with no thought whatsoever. Skill in the art is presumed. In re Sovish, 769 F.2d 738, 226
USPQ 771 (Fed. Cir. 1985). Furthermore, artisans must be presumed to know something
about the art apart from what the references disclose. In re Jacoby, 309 F.2d 513, 135 USPQ
317 (CCPA 1962). Every reference relies to some extent on knowledge or persons skilled in
the art to complement that which is disclosed therein. In re Bode, 550 F.2d 656, 193 USPQ
12 (CCPA 1977). A suggestion, teaching, or motivation to combine the relevant prior art
teachings does not have to be found explicitly in the prior art, as the teaching, motivation, or
suggestion may be implicit from the prior art as a whole, rather than expressly stated in the
references. The test for an implicit showing is what the combined teachings, knowledge of
one of ordinary skill in the art, and the nature of the problem to be solved as a whole would
have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. In re Kahn, 441 F.3d 977, 987, 78
USPQ2d 1329, 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2006) citing In re Kotzab, 217 F.3d 1365, 1370, 55 USPQ2d
1313 (Fed. Cir. 2000). See also In re Thrift, 298 F.3d 1357, 1363, 63 USPQ2d 2002, 2008
(Fed. Cir. 2002).
Thus, the skilled artisan would have been well aware of not being able to remotely
control lighting which has been turned off at its source. But, more importantly, in this
particular case, Schwarzbach clearly suggests that a remotely controlled lamp need not be
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