Appeal No. 96-0209
Application 07/922,501
control information reproduction means for decoding
said control information to output a clock signal for
timing control; and
control means for controling a reproduction sequence of
said music information of said music information
reproduction means in accordance with said clock
signal.
Opinion
The rejection of claims 1, 4, 6,
8 and 10-15 as being anticipated
by the European '073 reference
We do not sustain the rejection of claims 1, 4, 6, 8, and
10-15 as being anticipated by the European '073 reference.
Section 102 of Title 35, United States Code begins:
"A person shall be entitled to a patent unless -- . . . ."
The language is not ambiguous but quite clear. The examiner
has the initial burden of establishing prima facie anticipation
by coming forward with evidence tending to disprove novelty.
In re Wilder, 429 F.2d 447, 450, 166 USPQ 545, 548 (CCPA 1970).
A prima facie case means the evidence of prior art would
reasonably allow the conclusion the examiner seeks and compels
such a conclusion if the applicant produces no evidence or
argument to rebut it. In re Spada, 911 F.2d 705, 707 n.3,
15 USPQ2d 1655, 1657 n.3 (Fed. Cir. 1990).
"Rejection for anticipation or lack of novelty requires, as
the first step in the inquiry, that all the elements of the
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