Appeal 2007-1326
Application 10/237,067
1 providing power and protecting the receiver are beyond the skill of a person of
2 ordinary skill. But the person of ordinary skill would be a designer, not an
3 operator of a model train. Both Ireland and Young demonstrate the technologically
4 high level of complexity and diversity required of one of ordinary skill.
5 The level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art is a factual inquiry. The level of
6 skill to beneficially practice an invention with several discrete subcomponents, all
7 of which would be of concern to an ordinary artisan, necessarily requires skill in
8 each of the subcomponents and the skill to harmonize their operation. The
9 ordinary artisan must have a higher level perspective, as he must first decide one
10 subcomponent, and depending on the decision, decide another subcomponent.
11 Further, designing an optimal technologically diverse invention requires
12 knowledge of the technology and systems engineering. DyStar Textilfarben GmbH
13 & Co. Deutschland KG v. C.H. Patrick Co., 464 F.3d 1356, 1362-63, 80 USPQ2d
14 1641, 1646-47 (2006). Thus, such a person would have the perspective to
15 recognize these problems and a knowledge of the relevant technologies, such as
16 component packaging, transceiver design, and electric power design.
17 And further, Young’s receiver in the train illustrates both that these problems
18 are foreseeable, and the manner in which many of these problems might be
19 resolved. As to the contention that it would be particularly difficult to return
20 Young’s signal via the track, claim 106 does not recite such a requirement. As to
21 the Appellants’ contention that Young suggests interference problems with bi-
22 directional communication, the Appellants do not contend that solutions to such
23 interference were unknown at the time of the invention, but only that it would have
24 been difficult to solve the problem. Therefore, although these technological
25 problems might be difficult, the very fact that Young was able to show such a
20
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Last modified: September 9, 2013