Ex Parte MERRIL et al - Page 5




         Appeal No. 2003-1858                                                       
         Application No. 09/073,871                                                 


         837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988).  A              
         prima facie case of obviousness is established when the teachings          
         of the prior art itself would appear to have suggested the                 
         claimed subject matter to one of ordinary skill in the art.  See           
         In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 783, 26 USPQ2d 1529, 1531 (Fed. Cir.             
         1993); In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1266 n.14, 23 USPQ2d 1780,             
         1783-84 n.14 (Fed. Cir. 1992); Uniroyal, Inc. v. Rudkin-Wiley              
         Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1051, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1438 (Fed. Cir. 1988);          
         Ashland Oil, Inc. v. Delta Resins & Refractories, Inc., 776 F.2d           
         281, 293, 227 USPQ 657, 664 (Fed. Cir. 1985).  In considering the          
         question of the obviousness of the claimed invention in view of            
         the prior art relied upon, the Examiner is expected to make the            
         factual determination 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.  See also In re Rouffet, 149              
         F.3d 1350, 1355, 47 USPQ2d 1453, 1456 (Fed. Cir. 1998).                    
              After reviewing Shipp, we agree with Appellants’ assertion            
         that the claimed steps of detecting the change over from one               
         still image to another and automatically synchronizing the change          
         over from one still image to another with the audio recording,             

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