Appeal No. 95-2427
Application 08/013,987
The value of x of Denwa’s Gd Tb Fe alloy is so close to appellants claimed alloy that one
0.17 0.14 0.69
skilled in the art would have expected Denwa’s alloy and appellants’ claimed alloy to have the same
properties. Titanium Metals Corp. v. Banner, 778 F.2d 775, 782, 227 USPQ 773, 779 (Fed. Cir.
1985). To show that the properties are not the same, appellant refers us to Table 1 on page 11 of the
specification. Appellant points to alloy composition 3 in the Table wherein x has a value of 0.56 and y has
a value of 0.27. Appellants contend that this alloy is the closest alloy to Denwa’s alloy. Alloy composition
3 in the Table shows a C/N value which is at least 2.4 dB less than the C/N values for alloy compositions
4, 5 and 6 which are within the scope of appellants’ claimed alloy. Appellants also point to Fig. 1 in their
brief which compares the Curie temperature (Tc) and coercive force (Hc) of Denwa’s Gd Tb Fe
0.17 0.14 0.69
alloy to compositions having y values of 0.20-0.35 and x values of 0.0 to less than 0.35 (specification: Fig.
2; p. 10, lines 1-11). The Tc for Denwa’s alloy composition is 190E C. which is signicantly higher than
appellants claimed alloy which is about 160E C. while the Hc for Denwa’s alloy composition is 400 Oe
which is significantly below that for the claimed alloy which is over 1000 Oe. We find that the evidence
presented by appellants is sufficient to show that the Tc and Hc properties of Denwa’s alloy and appellants’
claimed alloy are not the same, but are significantly different.
We have considered the examiner’s analysis of the teachings of Gardner, Imamura and Tanaka
wherein the examiner concludes that a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated
to optimize the amount of Gd to enhance the Kerr rotation angle. The examiner’s analysis is as follows:
Gardner <043 also teaches an amount of GdTb at 31 at.%. (C.6: 29-33). Thus,
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