Appeal No. 97-3297
Application 08/390,973
McClure 4,299,417 Nov. 10, 1981
Nix et al. (Nix) 4,750,878 June 14, 1988
THE REJECTION
Claims 1-3 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Nix in view of McClure.
The rejection is explained in the Examiner's Answer.
The opposing viewpoints of the appellants are set forth
in the Brief and the Reply Brief.
OPINION
In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. §103, the examiner
bears the initial burden of presenting a prima facie case of
obviousness (see In re Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532, 28 USPQ2d
1955, 1956 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1446,
24 USPQ2d 1443, 1445 (Fed. Cir. 1992)), which is established when
the teachings of the prior art itself would appear to have
suggested the claimed subject matter to one of ordinary skill in
the art (see In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 783, 26 USPQ2d 1529, 1531
(Fed. Cir. 1993)).
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