Appeal No. 2002-0699
Application No. 09/401,740
a huge number of possible species. See In re Baird, 16 F.3d 380,
382, 29 USPQ2d 1550, 1552 (Fed. Cir. 1994); In re Jones, 958 F.2d
347, 350, 21 USPQ2d 1941, 1943 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
It follows that Takazawa would not have rendered the subject
matter of claim 8 obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art
within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 103.
We turn next to the examiner’s rejection of claim 3 under 35
U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over the combined disclosures of
Takazawa and Nishizaki. We find that in addition to the above
teachings, Takazawa further discloses that its ink composition
has a viscosity “of about 10 [to] about 106 cps at a temperature
by 30oC. higher than the melting...temperature.” See column 8,
lines 32-37. We find that the claimed jetting temperature
embraces the temperature at which the viscosity of Takazawa’s ink
composition is measured. Compare the specification, page 36,
with Takzawa, column 8, lines 32-37. We find that Takazawa’s
viscosity range at the jetting temperature, therefore, embraces
that recited in claim 3. As our reviewing court stated in In re
Peterson, 315 F.3d 1325, 1329, 65 USPQ2d 1379, 1382 (Fed. Cir.
2003):
In cases involving overlapping ranges, we and our
predecessor court have consistently held that even a
slight overlap in range establishes a prima facie case
9
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007