Appeal No. 2006-2059
Application No. 09/998,500
any claim other than claim 1. Accordingly, all of the appealed claims stand or fall together with
claim 1.
We have thoroughly reviewed each of appellants’ arguments for patentability. However,
we are in complete agreement with the examiner that the claimed subject matter would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art within the meaning of § 103 in view of the
applied prior art. Accordingly, we will sustain the examiner’s rejection for essentially those
reasons expressed in the answer, and we add the following primarily for emphasis.
Buckley, like appellants, discloses a breast pad for absorbing fluid that leaks from the
breast of a woman, and Buckley expressly teaches that “[l]otion of any type as is commercially
available to afford protection and healing to an individual’s skin portion, and more particularly to
the nipple portion, is provided” (column 3, lines 32-35). Buckley does not specifically teach that
the lotion may contain the presently claimed omega-3 fatty acids. However, as pointed out by
the examiner, Allen discloses topical compositions comprising omega-3 fatty acids that may be
applied to the breasts of a woman for therapeutic or cosmetic reasons. Accordingly, we concur
with the examiner that it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to select the
omega-3 fatty acids of Allen as the commercially available healing component of Buckley’s
breast cup. Since it was known in the art to apply omega-3 fatty acids to a women’s breast to
achieve various therapeutic and cosmetic effects, we are convinced that one of ordinary skill in
the art would have considered omega-3 fatty acids as one of the commercially available
components of the lotion disclosed by Buckley. Moreover, insofar as appellants’ specification
acknowledges that it was known in the art that “[c]racked and painful nipples may be caused, in
part, by the loss of naturally occurring lipids on the skin surface which may be lost during breast
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