Ex parte OHSAKI - Page 7




          Appeal No. 1998-0694                                                        
          Application No. 08/637,009                                                  


          § 103, it is incumbent upon the examiner to establish a                     
          factual basis to support the legal conclusion of obviousness.               
          See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1073, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed.              
          Cir. 1988).  In so doing, the examiner is expected to make the              
          factual determinations set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co.,               
          383 U.S. 1, 17, 148 USPQ 459, 467 (1966), and to provide a                  
          reason why one having ordinary skill in the pertinent art                   
          would have been led to modify the prior art or to combine                   
          prior art references to arrive at the claimed invention.  Such              
          reason must stem from some teaching, suggestion or implication              
          in the prior art as a whole or knowledge generally available                
          to one having ordinary skill in the art.  Uniroyal, Inc. v.                 
          Rudkin-Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1051, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1438                
          (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 825 (1988); Ashland Oil,                
          Inc. v. Delta Resins & Refractories, Inc., 776 F.2d 281, 293,               
          227 USPQ 657, 664 (Fed. Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S.                  
          1017 (1986); ACS Hosp. Sys., Inc. v. Montefiore Hosp., 732                  
          F.2d 1572, 1577, 221 USPQ 929, 933 (Fed. Cir. 1984).  These                 
          showings by the examiner are an essential part of complying                 
          with the burden of presenting a prima facie case of                         
          obviousness.  Note In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24                   
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