Appeal No. 2000-1209
Application No. 08/711,180
The examiner relies on the following references:
Collins, Jr. (Collins) 4,926,481 May 15, 1990
Basu 5,452,454 Sep. 19, 1995
Yee 5,471,576 Nov. 28, 1995
Claims 1-3, and 10-12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Basu in view of Yee, while claims 4-9, and
13-18 stand rejected over Basu in view of Yee and Collins
Rather than repeat the arguments of appellant and the
examiner, we make reference to the brief (paper no. 10) and the
answer (paper no. 11) for the respective details thereof.
OPINION
We have considered the rejections advanced by the examiner and
the supporting arguments. We have, likewise, reviewed the
appellant’s arguments set forth in the brief.
We reverse.
As a general proposition, in an appeal involving a rejection
under 35 U.S.C. § 103, an Examiner is under a burden to make out a
prima facie case of obviousness. If that burden is met, the burden
of going forward then shifts to the applicant to overcome the prima
facie case with argument and/or evidence. Obviousness, is then
determined on the basis of the evidence as a whole and the relative
persuasiveness of the arguments. See In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443,
1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992); In re Hedges, 783 F.2d
3
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