Appeal 2007-2315
Application 10/095,265
Secondly, both Herber and Gedeon teach that the grip length of a golf
club can be increased to accommodate hand positions used in different
stances and swings. Gedeon explicitly refers to a grip that extends over the
entire length of the shaft for gripping “with one hand close to head 11” of
the putter (Gedeon, col. 3, ll. 43; Findings of Fact 12). Moreover, in
addition to Herber’s and Gedeon’s teachings about integral golf club grips,
Appellant admits in the Specification that methods of “extending golf grips”
using “a covering or sleeve applied over the grip after manufacture” were
known (Spec. 6: 7-8). Thus, grip length was not considered by persons of
skill in the art to be a fixed constant for all golf clubs. In our opinion, it was
not inventive at the time the invention was made to lengthen a grip beyond
the explicit 15 inches1 disclosed because it was well known to persons of
ordinary skill in the art that golf club grips could be lengthened for the
purpose of accommodating different golfing demands (Findings of Fact 6-8,
11, 12; Spec. 6: 7-8; Answer 12 (e.g., “Players come in all sizes”)).
Appellant argues that Gedeon’s teaching about a putter is not
applicable to a wood or iron type-club.
[T]he disclosure of structure with respect to a putter does not
teach or fairly suggest structure with respect to iron and wood
type golf clubs. In particular, as expressly documented and
discussed herein, manufacturers of iron and wood type golf
clubs, unlike those of putters, would not extend grip lengths
because of a variety of potentially negative effects to such
1 We agree with the Examiner that “15 inches” is not a magic number. In
Appellant’s own Specification, it is stated that the grip can be extended
“anywhere from 11 to 24 inches” (Spec. 6: 28-30). While “15 to 16 inches”
is described as most preferable (Spec. 6: 30), there is no statement in the
Specification that the preferred length confers any benefit or advantage
different from the broader range.
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