Appeal No. 94-0105
Application 07/854,124
In re Ahlert, 424 F.2d 1088, 1091, 165 USPQ 418, 420 (CCPA
1970). However,
[a]ssertions of technical facts in areas of esoteric
technology must always be supported by citation to
some reference work recognized as standard in the
pertinent art and the appellant given, in the Patent
Office, the opportunity to challenge the correctness
of the assertion . . . [a]llegations concerning
'knowledge' of the prior art, which might be
peculiar to a particular art, should also be
supported and the appellant similarly given the
opportunity to make a challenge.
Ahlert, 424 F.2d at 1091, 165 USPQ at 420-1.
Appellant contends, and the examiner does not dispute,
that no reference relied on in the rejections on appeal
discloses N!YBCO, let alone its use as a weak link barrier
layer in a
Josephson junction. The examiner’s “official notice,”
although not denominated as such, is improper because it
concerns facts in an esoteric technology, and because it
concerns knowledge peculiar to that technology. Furthermore,
the alleged equivalence of N-YBCO and PBCO has been challenged
by appellant. Paper No. 12, paragraph bridging pages 13 and
14. In particular, appellant urges that PBCO was recognized
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