Ex Parte Nallan et al - Page 7

                Appeal 2007-3546                                                                              
                Application 10/418,180                                                                        

                      On balance, we agree with the Examiner’s position that an ordinarily                    
                skilled artisan would have the reasonable expectation that silver (Ag) would                  
                have some anti-oxidative/anti-corrosion characteristics, properties that                      
                would accrue to a RE-TM alloy upon addition of silver thereto.                                
                      More importantly, however, there is another rationale that would have                   
                led one of ordinary skill in the art to add silver to the RE-TM material layer                
                of Ozaki.  As explained by the Examiner, Sekiya “establishes that it is old in                
                the art to add Ag to a RE-TM alloy containing Tb and Co” (Answer 7).                          
                Certainly, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been familiar with the                 
                known additive elements in the list of additives taught by Sekiya, including                  
                their known properties.  Thus, an ordinarily skilled artisan would have been                  
                led by the combined teachings of the applied references to add Ag to the Re-                  
                TM material layer of Ozaki with the expectation that the addition of Ag                       
                would contribute properties to the magnetic material layer in accordance                      
                with the known characteristics of Ag.   See KSR, 127 S. Ct. at 1739, 82                       
                USPQ2d at 1395 (“The combination of familiar elements according to                            
                known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield                         
                predictable results.”).                                                                       
                      Appellants argue that there would be no need for the additional anti-                   
                corrosion properties arising from adding silver to the RE-TM layer of the                     
                perpendicular magnetic recording medium of Ozaki because the magnetic                         
                layer is protected by a carbon protective layer and a lubricant layer.                        
                However, that contention is not persuasive because one of ordinary skill in                   
                the art would have been led to add Ag to the RE-TM layer not withstanding                     
                the presence of protective layers for the additive protective effects such Ag                 


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