Appeal 2007-0694
Reexamination Control 90/006,433
Patent 5,428,933
that Patentee’s web, Horobin’s end walls and struts, and Guarriello’s
separators all define a structure that connects their respective side panels.
Patentee does not dispute the Examiner’s finding that Horobin describes
webs connecting side walls together, the webs being formed separately from
the side walls. Patentee also does not dispute the Examiner’s finding that
one skilled in the art would have understood that separately formed side
panels allow for easy formation of the panels and webs and facilitate
transportation.
Patentee contends that the separators in Guarriello define vertical
cavities and separate one vertical post from another and that Horobin’s webs
do not function to space one vertical cavity from another. (Appeal Br. at
52). Horobin ‘382 teaches that its insulating block side walls may be
connected using struts (18) and end walls (16) that are inserted into slots on
the interior of the side walls. (Horobin ‘382, Fig. 1 and col. 5, ll. 65-68).
One skilled in the art would have recognized that, when connected end to
end, Horobin’s transverse end walls (16) form vertical posts that separate
one cavity from another.
Patentee contends that the Examiner has failed to identify where
Guarriello taught, disclosed or suggested that its separators could be
replaced with webs. (Appeal Br. at 52). Obviousness however, is not
limited to the express teachings of a single prior art reference but is based
upon what the combined teachings of the prior art suggest to the person of
ordinary skill in the art. In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871,
881 (CCPA 1981)(“The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a
secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the
primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly
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