Unexpected Results Must Be Taught by, or Flow from the Patent Application

Unexpected results must be taught by, or flow from, the patent application. 

The claimed invention must be tested against the closest prior art and not all of 

a Unexpected Results Must Be Taught by, or Flow from the Patent Application 

At the outset, it is important that we appreciate that any unexpected results that the applicant hopes to rely on in rebutting a prima facie case of obviousness need to be explicitly disclosed or at least inherently flow from a described feature of the invention. This means that one cannot expect to overcome a rejection based on alleged obviousness by demonstrating unexpected properties that were not disclosed in the patent application as filed or do not flow naturally (inherently) from the disclosure in the application. 

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