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10.5 USPTO Examination Guidelines for Obviousness
the explicit content of issued patents. e diversity of inventive
pursuits and of modern technology counsels against limiting the
analysis in this way. In many elds it may be that there is little
discussion of obvious techniques or combinations, and it oen
may be the case that market demand, rather than scientic lit-
erature, will drive design trends.
• Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the
ordinary course without real innovation retards progress and
may, in the case of patents combining previously known ele-
ments, deprive prior inventions of their value or utilit ...