Appeal 2007-0364
Application 09/998,661
We determine that Appellants have not adequately rebutted this prima facie
case of obviousness by their arguments. Therefore we AFFIRM the sole
ground of rejection in this appeal essentially for the reasons stated in the
Answer, as well as those reasons set forth below.
OPINION
We determine the following factual findings from the record in this
appeal:
(1) Wisdom discloses cutting chip preforms from a sheet of masa,
enclosing the chip preforms in molds, and restraining the chips in
the molds during toasting and subsequent frying (col. 4, ll. 12-34;
Answer 4);
(2) Wisdom teaches that the preferred chip products conform to the
shape of the mold so that the chips “may be of uniform size and
shape and capable of being stacked” (col. 2, ll. 52-55; Answer 4);
(3) Hilton discloses that corn chips have generally been fried into non-
uniform shapes, and thus necessitating that these chips be
packaged in large inexpensive containers and subject to
deterioration within a short time (col. 1, ll. 10-21);
(4) Hilton teaches cutting uniformly shaped (any “desired shape”)
chips from dough, and frying these chips while restrained in a
mold to permit packaging the nested, uniformly shaped product in
relatively smaller containers with less amount of breakage (col. 1,
ll. 22-50; Answer 4);
4
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