Appeal 2007-1902
Application 09/398,006
the compression modulus is 100 times greater than the claimed 200 kgf/cm2,
thus falling within that claimed range (Answer 6). The Examiner concludes
it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use Kohno’s
rubber in the outermost cord layer of Farnsworth’s tires for the benefits
taught by Kohno (id.).
The Examiner contends claim 5 “requires that the cord to cord
distance between the end of the middle cord layer and the adjacent outermost
cord layer is greater than 0.15 times the cord to cord distance between the
same end of the middle cord layer and the adjacent inner [cord] layer”
(Answer 8-9). The Examiner contends one of ordinary skill in the art would
have expected from the disclosure of Farnsworth “that the relative distances
would be approximately the same” and thus, “the cord-to-cord distance
(defined by topping rubbers) between the middle cord layer [sic, and] the
outermost cord layer would be approximately 1.0 times the cord-to-cord
distance between the middle cord layer and the inner[most] cord layer” (id.
9).
Appellants contend the Examiner is relying on hindsight based on
their disclosure to find teachings or suggestions in Farnsworth leading to the
claimed invention as none of the embodiments of the reference disclose the
claimed tire, and “the fact that Farnsworth describes certain so-called
‘staggered’ configurations, but none of which correspond to Appellant’s
recited configuration would likely lead the skilled artisan away from
Appellant’s [sic, Appellants’] invention” (Br. 9-12, emphasis omitted; see
also Br. 14-17).
Appellants admit Gaudin “discloses three and four breaker [cord
layer] arrangements with various widths” including that illustrated in Gaudin
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