Opinion ID: 770809
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Additional Secondary Indicators

Text: 54 With regard to other secondary indicators of nonobviousness, the district court found that: (1) there was no evidence that others had tried and failed to create a reduced circumference cigarette; (2) there was no long- felt but unmet need to use less tobacco in a cigarette; and (3) there were no unexpected results. B&W does not appear to challenge these specific findings. Moreover, the record supports each of these findings and we hold that the district court was not clearly erroneous. 55 B&W argues however, and we agree, that the district court erred with regard to certain other secondary indicators. Specifically, B&W asserts that the district court erred as a matter of law in discounting PM's statements of praise for the Capri, in failing to consider PM's skepticism and Cundiff's skepticism, and in failing to consider PM's copying of the Capri. Accordingly, in reaching the ultimate legal determination regarding obviousness, we will accept B&W's characterization of PM's skepticism, praise, and copying of the Capri, as well as Cundiff's skepticism. 56 The scope of these errors is limited, however, by two district court findings that are not clearly erroneous. First, the district court found that there was no evidence that any other tobacco company had praised the Capri. Second, the district court found B&W's skepticism and characterization of the conventional wisdom unpersuasive, stating: 57 B&W offered some testimony that it was the conventional wisdom, prior to Luke's invention, that a cigarette in the range of 10 to 19 mm would `burn up like a fuse' or would not be capable of sustained smoulder or would be otherwise commercially unacceptable. However, the literature of Rice and Muramatsu, coupled with the existing cigarettes in the industry would have suggested otherwise to one skilled in the art of cigarette design. 58 B&W Opinion, slip op. at 24. As we discuss immediately below, these limited district court errors are harmless, even when coupled with the presumed market share of the VSSS, because they cannot overcome the strong evidence of obviousness.