Appeal 2007-1719
Application 10/655,483
USPQ2d at 1444. Id. at 1445, 24 USPQ2d at 1444. See also Piasecki, 745 F.2d at
1472, 223 USPQ at 788. Obviousness is then determined on the basis of the
evidence as a whole and the relative persuasiveness of the arguments. See Oetiker,
977 F.2d at 1445, 24 USPQ2d at 1444; Piasecki, 745 F.2d at 1472, 223 USPQ at
788.
ANALYSIS
Independent claims 1 and 16 recite “a crop divider that is pivotable relative
to the cutting platform between a forwards projecting operating position and a
retracted position.” Independent claim 9 similarly recites “[a] method for actuating
a crop divider between a forward operating position and a retracted transport
position.”
The Examiner found that Greiner’s crop divider assembly is pivotable in a
forward projecting operating position, as shown in Figure 1 of Greiner, and is also
pivotable in a retracted transport position, as shown in Figure 2 of Greiner
(Answer 6-8). Figures 1 and 2 of Greiner show only a known adjustable
harvesting attachment 10 having row crop dividers 12, 14, and 16, which are
movably mounted on a frame 18 so that the row crop dividers 12 and 14 can be
pivoted toward and away from each other horizontally to accommodate crop rows
of varying widths (Finding of Fact 1). Even when pivoted between a wider or
narrower position, as shown in Figures 1 and 2 of Greiner, respectively, crop
dividers 12, 14 remain in a forward projecting operating position (Finding of
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