Ex parte NIELSEN et al. - Page 4




          Appeal No. 2000-0141                                       Page 4           
          Application No. 08/673,693                                                  


               After considering the record, we are persuaded that the                
          examiner erred in rejecting claims 1-28.   Accordingly, we                  
          reverse.                                                                    


               We begin by noting that the references represent the                   
          level of ordinary skill in the art.  See In re GPAC Inc., 57                
          F.3d 1573, 1579, 35 USPQ2d 1116, 1121 (Fed. Cir. 1995)(finding              
          that the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences did not err              
          in concluding that the level of ordinary skill was best                     
          determined by the references of record); In re Oelrich, 579                 
          F.2d 86, 91,                                                                
          198 USPQ 210, 214 (CCPA 1978) ("[T]he PTO usually must                      
          evaluate ... the level of ordinary skill solely on the cold                 
          words of the literature.").  Of course, “‘[e]very patent                    
          application and reference relies to some extent upon knowledge              
          of persons skilled in the art to complement that [which is]                 
          disclosed ....’”                                                            
          In re Bode, 550 F.2d 656, 660, 193 USPQ 12, 16 (CCPA 1977)                  
          (quoting In re Wiggins, 488 F.2d 538, 543, 179 USPQ 421, 424                
          (CCPA 1973)).  Those persons “must be presumed to know                      








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