Ex Parte Bergh - Page 7

               Appeal 2007-0835                                                                             
               Application 09/950,778                                                                       
               familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when                    
               it does no more than yield predictable results.); see also In re                             
               OmeprazolePatent Litigation, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 1175673, at 9 (Fed.                       
               Cir. 2007)(holding it obvious to substitute one known alkaline reacting                      
               compound (ARC) for another where each was known to stabilize                                 
               omeprazole).                                                                                 
                      With regard to the issue of whether one of ordinary skill in the art                  
               would have found it obvious to roughen the surface of Yamane’s protective                    
               layer to a level between 2 and 10 microns, we also find that the                             
               preponderance of the evidence supports the determination of the Examiner.                    
               The contacting surface of Yamane’s screen is intended to contact the X-ray                   
               film in the same manner as the “foil” of Van Landeghem and is subject to                     
               the same problem, i.e, air pockets upon loading of the X-ray film and                        
               stickiness upon unloading.  Therefore, the use of the roughened surface                      
               suggested by Van Landeghem in the screen of Yamane would have been                           
               obvious to one of ordinary skill in art because it would have been expected                  
               to solve the air pocket and stickiness problem known in the art.  See KSR,                   
               127 S. Ct. at 1742, 82 USPQ2d at 1397 (“One of the ways in which a                           
               patent's subject matter can be proved obvious is by noting that there existed                
               at the time of invention a known problem for which there was an obvious                      
               solution encompassed by the patent's claims.”); see also In re Kahn,                         
               441 F.3d 977, 987-88, 78 USPQ2d 1329, 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2006)(“consider                        
               what the combined teachings, knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art,                  
               and the nature of the problem to be solved as a whole would have suggested                   
               to those of ordinary skill in the art.”).                                                    



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