KSR: like pieces of a puzzle

from within Ex parte Hara


“Common sense teaches, however, that familiar items may have obvious uses beyond their primary purposes, and in many cases a person of ordinary skill will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like pieces of a puzzle.” KSR Int’l v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 420 (2007).

Keller is also cited:

We do not find Appellant’s arguments to be persuasive. In particular, we observe that Appellant attacks the cited references in isolation. (Appeal Brief 11-26; Reply Brief 1-10). Appellant’s arguments do not take into account what the collective teachings of the prior art would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art and are therefore ineffective to rebut the Examiner's prima facie case of obviousness. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425 (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 suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art.” (Emphasis added) (citations omitted)).