Appeal No. 1999-2290 Page 10
Application No. 08/763,955
replacing the added second hands with discs having hands
formed on the disks. We do not know whether the examiner is
asserting that each of the hour and minute hands of displays
4, 5, and 6 will all be replaced with discs having hands
formed thereon, or whether the examiner intends to leave the
minute and hours hands as disclosed by Kamiyama and add second
hands formed on discs.
The examiner states (answer, pages 3 and 4) that two
subclasses are dedicated to the use of discs in lieu of hands.
However, the examiner has not stated which subclasses are
being referred to. Nor has the examiner provided any subclass
definitions that would establish contents of the patents
found in the two subclasses.
We do not know if prior art exists that could be combined
with the teachings of Kamiyama in order to arrive at the
claimed invention. If such prior art exists, it is the
examiner's burden to locate the prior art and set forth a
rejection of the claims that can be argued by appellant.
Thus, we agree with appellants (brief, page 8) that the
examiner is relying upon "phantom prior
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