Fletcher YoderClaims are obvious if a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine/modify prior art systems with predictable results. Findings of obviousness are a matter of law and thus reviewed de novo.
Inherency may be used to supply a missing claim limitation when the missing claim limitation is necessarily disclosed by a reference; however, the PTO may require an applicant to prove that subject matter shown to be in a reference does not possess a characteristic relied upon with respect to functional limitations.
An obviousness rejection requires identification of each claim element and motivation to combine.
At least some evidence should be presented to support a reasonable expectation of success.
At least some evidence should be presented to support a motivation to combine references with a reasonable expectation of success.
Record evidence is required to support an assertion that claimed structural features are known prior art elements.