The Federal Circuit affirmed. Greene argued that the PTO failed to establish a prima facie case of obviousness over a patent to Riskin. The Federal Circuit found that the Board made determinations about the state of the prior art, the level of ordinary skill, and what the Riskin reference taught or suggested. The Federal Circuit stated that it must give deference to those findings, particularly where Greene cited no evidence to contradict those findings. Greene also argued that the Riskin reference would not enable a person of ordinary skill to use the disclosure in the manner Greene claimed.
References are relevant for all they contain.
The Federal Circuit stated that the very problem Greene was addressing provided the motivation to modify and adapt the Riskin reference. Thus, the PTO established a prima facie case of obviousness. Waste Management, Inc., et al. Opinion by Michel, joined by Mayer and Clevenger. Because the district court erred in its claim construction, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court's ruling that Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc. infringed, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, Manchak's U.S. Patent No.