Appeal No. 2000-0951 Page 4
Application No. 08/640,160
not sustain the examiner's rejection of claims 1, 4 to 6, 11,
14 to 16, 18 to 21, 25 and 28 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Our
reasoning for this determination follows.
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). A prima facie case of obviousness is established by
presenting evidence that would have led one of ordinary skill in the
art to combine the relevant teachings of the references to arrive at
the claimed invention. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d
1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988) and In re Lintner, 458 F.2d 1013, 1016,
173 USPQ 560, 562 (CCPA 1972).
Griggs discloses an automobile certificate holder. As
shown in Figures 1-5, the holder includes a single transparent
sheet 12 folded to create a bottom edge 14 and a foldable flap
element 22; edges 28 and 30 of sheet 12 are compressed
together under heat conditions and sealed at points 32 to form
an inner compartment for an automobile certificate; and a
plurality of flexible magnets 34, 36 and 38 secured to face 18
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