Appeal No. 96-3763
Application 07/946,509
Claims 20 through 24, 27 through 31 and 34 through
36 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over
Childs, Filepp and Takada.
Reference is made to the briefs and answer for the
respective positions of appellants and the examiner.
OPINION
We will not sustain the rejection of claims 20
through 24, 27 through 31 and 34 through 36 under 35 U.S.C. §
103 because, in our view, the examiner has failed to establish
a prima facie case of obviousness with regard to the claimed
subject matter.
While appellants concede that all the appealed
claims stand or fall together, there is a bit of awkwardness
in the instant situation since the appealed claims are all
dependent claims some of which depend from different independ-
ent claims. However, since claims 20, 27 and 31 are the
broadest claims of the appealed group and they are identical
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