Affirmed by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interference on June 25, 2007, Ex parte Mary Smith is regarded as a precedential opinion due to its use of case law concerning KSR v. Teleflex. The question at the heart of this matter was if by combining various elements of prior art, but not the prior art as a whole, would constitute as a patentable device: "The operative question in this 'functional approach' is thus 'whether the improvement is more than the predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions.' Id." (p.13, Ex Parte Smith). The opinion later goes on to say:
As noted by KSR:
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, 127 S.Ct. at 1742, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. (p.20, Ex Parte Smith).
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