Appeal No. 2006-1408 Page 5
Application No. 10/019,669
sole assembly 52 mounted within the support member 20. The rear portion 58 of the
inner sole assembly may extend up behind the heel of the user to cushion this area of
the foot. The inner sole assembly includes a lower air bladder 64, which may contain a
layer of foam material, and an upper resilient layer 66 constituting several removable
sections 68 which together form a normally substantially smooth surface for
engagement by the foot, the removable sections having hook and loop securing
material on their lower surfaces for engagement with mating hook and loop material on
the upper surface of the bladder 64.
Given the disparate functions and objectives of the three types of footwear
described by Darby ‘909 (a shoe with a rocker design sole), Darby ‘133 (an
immobilization brace designed for minimal rocker effect which provides uniform
compression over the leg, foot and ankle area) and Grim (footgear with removable
resilient elements to provide varying degrees of pressure relief for different zones of the
foot), it is not readily apparent that one of ordinary skill in the art would have viewed the
teachings with regard to insoles on any one of the applied shoes or braces as being
applicable to either of the other types of footwear of the applied references.
In any event, as stated in In re Kotzab, 217 F.3d 1365, 1370, 55 USPQ2d 1313,
1316-17 (Fed. Cir. 2000),
[m]ost if not all inventions arise from a combination of
old elements. Thus, every element of a claimed invention
may often be found in the prior art. However, identification in
the prior art of each individual part claimed is insufficient to
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