Appeal 2007-0592
Application 10/263,001
1 While the sequence of these [Graham] questions might be
2 reordered in any particular case, the factors continue to define
3 the inquiry that controls. If a court, or patent examiner,
4 conducts this analysis and concludes the claimed subject matter
5 was obvious, the claim is invalid under § 103.
6 KSR, 550 U.S. ___, 82 USPQ2d at 1391. Further, the Court stated:
7 To facilitate review, this analysis should be made explicit. See
8 In re Kahn, 441 F.3d 977, 988 [78 USPQ2d 1329] (CA Fed.
9 2006) (“[R]ejections on obviousness grounds cannot be
10 sustained by mere conclusory statements; instead, there must be
11 some articulated reasoning with some rational underpinning to
12 support the legal conclusion of obviousness”). As our
13 precedents make clear, however, the analysis need not seek out
14 precise teachings directed to the specific subject matter of the
15 challenged claim, for a court can take account of the inferences
16 and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art
17 would employ.
18 KSR, 550 U.S. ___, 82 USPQ2d at 1396. Additionally, the Court stated:
19 When a work is available in one field of endeavor, design
20 incentives and other market forces can prompt variations of it,
21 either in the same field or a different one. If a person of
22 ordinary skill can implement a predictable variation, § 103
23 likely bars its patentability. For the same reason, if a technique
24 has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary
25 skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar
26 devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless
27 its actual application is beyond his or her skill.
28 KSR, 550 U.S. ___, 82 USPQ2d at 1396.
29 As we have already determined, Kurano teaches all the features of
30 claims 4 and 13 except that Kurano’s support frame is not shown to be of
31 Zirconia. However, AAPA teaches that it is known in the art to make the
32 support frame from Zirconia. (Specification 3: 1). The level of skill in the
33 art is shown by Kurano to include the knowledge of how to manufacture
8
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