That's where obviousness analysis comes in. It's tough to do in hindsight. That's why courts look to "objective evidence." For example, praise from other resea

That's where obviousness analysis comes in. It's tough to do in hindsight. That's why courts look to "objective evidence." For example, praise from other researchers, or extensive citation of the published paper, could be indirect evidence of nonobviousness. (One of my partners at my former law firm told a story about representing a major university in seeking a patent for a biotech invention. It took a number of years for the PTO to do the initial examination of the patent application. The patent examiner perfunctorily rejected the application, asserting that the claimed invention would have been obvious in view of the prior art. My partner responded that in the years that the inventors had been waiting on the PTO to examine the patent application, they had been awarded the Nobel Prize for that very invention. Result: Obviousness rejection withdrawn. Of course, I could well be misremembering, but it nicely illustrates the principle.)