Ex Parte HEDINGER - Page 4


          Appeal No. 2002-1627                                                        
          Application No. 09/132,450                                                  


          invention as claimed.  We reach the opposite conclusion with                
          respect to the Examiner’s 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection of claims 8 and         
          10-15 based on Yamakita.  Accordingly, we affirm-in-part.                   
               In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, it is                       
          incumbent upon the Examiner to establish a factual basis to                 
          support the legal conclusion of obviousness.  See In re Fine, 837           
          F.2d 1071, 1073, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988).  In so               
          doing, the Examiner is expected to make the factual                         
          determinations set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1,           
          17, 148 USPQ 459, 467 (1966), and to provide a reason why one               
          having ordinary skill in the pertinent art would have been led to           
          modify the prior art or to combine prior art references to arrive           
          at the claimed invention.  Such reason must stem from some                  
          teaching, suggestion or implication in the prior art as a whole             
          or knowledge generally available to one having ordinary skill in            
          the art.  Uniroyal Inc. v. Rudkin-Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044,               
          1051, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1438 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 825           
          (1988); Ashland Oil, Inc. v. Delta Resins & Refractories, Inc.,             
          776 F.2d 281, 293, 227 USPQ 657, 664 (Fed. Cir. 1985), cert.                
          denied, 475 U.S. 1017 (1986); ACS Hosp. Sys., Inc. v.                       
          Montefiore Hosp., 732 F.2d 1572, 1577, 221 USPQ 929, 933 (Fed.              
          Cir. 1984).  These showings by the Examiner are an essential part           
          of complying with the burden of presenting a prima facie case of            

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