Appeal No. 2006-1946
Application No. 10/437,580
which the inventor was involved. See In re Wood, 599 F.2d 1032,
1036, 202 USPQ 171, 174 (CCPA 1979). A reference is reasonably
pertinent if, even though it may be in a different field of
endeavor, it is one which, because of the matter with which it
deals, logically would have commended itself to an inventor's
attention in considering the inventor’s problem. See In re Clay,
966 F.2d 656, 659, 23 USPQ2d 1058, 1061 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
Kennedy’s disclosure that lowering a polymer’s temperature
reduces its modulus of elasticity, thereby stiffening it (¶
0019), logically would have commended itself to the appellant’s
attention in considering the problem addressed by the appellant,
i.e., visually indicating when a polymeric hockey puck has warmed
to the point where the puck no longer has the desired level of
stiffness. Kennedy, therefore, is analogous art.
The appellant argues that there would have been no
motivation to combine Kennedy and Douglas because play would not
be stopped if Douglas’ hockey puck warms up during use (brief,
page 11). Although play would not be stopped to replace a warmed
puck, Kennedy would have fairly suggested, to one of ordinary
skill in the art, replacing the puck with a frozen one when play
is stopped for another reason, such as a foul, in order to
maintain the optimum playing temperature of the puck being used
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