Appeal No. 96-3192 Page 5
Application No. 08/247,672
with respect to the claims under appeal. Accordingly, we will
not sustain the examiner's rejection of claims 13 through 15
under
35 U.S.C. § 103. Our reasoning for this determination
follows.
In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, the examiner
bears the initial burden of presenting a prima facie case of
obviousness. See In re Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532, 28
USPQ2d 1955, 1956 (Fed. Cir. 1993). A prima facie case of
obviousness is established by presenting evidence that the
reference teachings would appear to be sufficient for one of
ordinary skill in the relevant art having the references
before him to make the modifications necessary to arrive at
the claimed invention. See In re Lintner, 9 F.2d 1013, 1016,
173 USPQ 560, 562 (CCPA 1972). Furthermore, the conclusion
that the claimed subject matter is prima facie obvious must be
supported by evidence, as shown by some objective teaching in
the prior art or by knowledge generally available to one of
ordinary skill in the art that would have led that individual
to combine the relevant teachings of the references to arrive
5
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