Opinion ID: 516267
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Law of 35 U.S.C. Sec. 103

Text: 183 Law is a body of general principles and rules, predicated in advance, awaiting application to particular facts as may arise. S. Weiner, The Civil Jury Trial and the Law-Fact Distinction, 64 Calif.L.Rev. 1867, 1869 (1966). Law does not deal with the circumstances of a particular situation; it announces what is to be the rule in all cases. F. Bohlen, Mixed Questions of Law and Fact, 72 U.Penn.L.Rev. 111, 112 (1924). See R. Brown, Fact and Law in Judicial Review, 56 Harv.L.Rev. 899, 901 (1943): 184 Questions of law, therefore, are those which are concerned with ... the inquiry whether there be any such rule or standard, the determination of the exact meaning and scope of it, the definition of its terms, and the settlement of incidental questions, such as the conformity of it, in the mode of its enactment, with the requirements of a written constitution. 185 (quoting Thayer, A Preliminary Treatise on Evidence 193 (1898)). 186 The law of obviousness, the general rule in all cases, is set in 35 U.S.C. Sec. 103: 187 Sec. 103. Conditions for patentability; non-obvious subject matter. 188 A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made. 189 The rule of Section 103 has been elaborated by the courts, as a matter of judge-made law. For example, the courts have established the rule that synergism is not a requirement for unobviousness of combination inventions; the rule that a structurally obvious chemical compound that exhibits unexpected properties may be deemed unobvious; the rule that objective indicia must be considered along with the other Graham factors; all these rules comprising a common law of unobviousness. 190 But these rules do not establish how the evidence as to any specific case will be weighed, or which technological or commercial facts will support a ruling of unobviousness and which will not. The conclusion of unobviousness vel non is not dictated as a matter of law; it is reached by weighing and evaluating the facts of the particular case. We have long recognized the fact-dependency of obviousness determinations. See, e.g., In re Durden, 763 F.2d 1406, 1410, 226 USPQ 359, 361 (Fed.Cir.1985): 191 We reiterate another principle followed in obviousness issue cases, which is to decide each case on the basis of its own particular fact situation. What we or our predecessors may have said in discussing different fact situations is not to be taken as having universal application. 192 The conclusion is not severable from the underlying facts of the particular case, but is determined by the weighing and evaluation of these facts by the trier of fact, through the eye of the person that the trier of fact has found to be of ordinary skill in the technology. 193 Misperception of this process may have arisen because the evidence in obviousness determinations is often documentary prior art whose existence is unchallenged: often readable by judges, usually included in appellate records. Although credibility of documentary evidence is not often at issue, the corollary for technological information is its evaluation and weight; along with all other evidence. See Richdel, Inc. v. Sunspool Corp., 714 F.2d 1573, 1580, 219 USPQ 8, 12 (Fed.Cir.1983) (The issue is the obviousness of the claimed invention, and that issue can be resolved only after all relevant evidence of nonobviousness, including so-called 'secondary considerations' if any, has been taken into account.) (Emphasis original). Even when the existence of the prior art is undisputed, the weighing of the evidentiary factors may be highly disputed, as in the case at bar. The weight of these factors is not severable from the factors themselves, and is not assigned to a different decision-maker. See the discussion in Louis, supra, at 1033, of the virtually settled rule that mixed questions cannot be taken from the jury simply because the historical facts are not in dispute. 194 The jury applies the law of unobviousness, on which it has been instructed by the court, to all the evidence, in light of the burden of proof, and determines the ultimate question of whether the requirements of Section 103 are met. Thereafter, in accord with Federal Circuit precedent: 195 Appellate review of the jury verdict is limited to whether the applicable legal principles were identified and applied correctly and whether the findings of ultimate fact exceed the limits of reasonableness. 196 Louis, supra, at 999. 197 The question of sufficiency of the evidence may be raised on motion for directed verdict, and the trial court may decide that as a matter of law the evidence is insufficient to create an issue for resolution by the jury, when all inferences are drawn in favor of the non-movant. 9 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure: Civil Sec. 2524 (1971). See generally W. Blume, Origin and Development of the Directed Verdict, 48 Mich.L.Rev. 555 (1950). Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511-12, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986): 198 the inquiry under each [motion for summary judgment and for directed verdict] is the same: whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law. 199 The panel majority appears to confuse the question of sufficiency of evidence, which is a matter of law, with the status of the ultimate question, which may be historical fact, or ultimate fact based on historical fact, or a mixed law-fact question of various labels.