Appeal No. 94-2441 Application 07/821,314 than a resin having a melt index of 100 at 190EC. See footnote 4. We therefore conclude that the examiner has correctly determined that the claimed ranges of acid value and melt viscosity fall within or substantially overlap the respective ranges described for El-Sayed’s toner resin component. We therefore agree with the examiner that a strong prima facie case of obviousness has been established for the claimed subject matter. See In re Malagari, 499 F.2d 1297, 1303, 182 USPQ 549, 553 (CCPA 1974) and In re Orfeo, 440 F.2d 439, 440, 169 USPQ 487, 488 (CCPA 1971). Indeed, appellants state at page 2 of their Reply Brief filed March 3, 1994 that ...at best the El-Sayed et al reference presents a rebuttable showing of prima facie obviousness of the presently claimed invention. When an applicant seeks to overcome a prima facie case of obviousness by showing improved performance in a range that is within or overlaps with the range disclosed in the prior art, the applicant must “show that the [claimed] range is critical, generally by showing that the claimed range achieves unexpected results relative to the prior art range.” In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 1578, 16 USPQ2d 1934, 1936 (Fed. Cir. 1990). Here, appellants submit that the evidence of record allegedly showing the criticality of the claim parameters is more than sufficient 6Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007