Appeal No. 97-2605
Application 08/272,782
layers together to comprise at least one weld joint adjacent to
the camshaft opening (see pages 4 and 5 in the final rejection).
The Japanese ‘651, ‘654 and ‘655 references disclose one-
piece cams which are affixed to their respective camshafts by one
or more weld joints adjacent the camshaft openings in the cams.
With regard to the 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection based on the
Japanese ‘291 reference alone, the examiner states that
[i]t is common knowledge in the art to use welding
in order to join the layers together. The use of
welding to join the layers together is notoriously well
known.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made to
use [a] weld joint in order to [join] the layers of
[the Japanese ‘291 reference] together as suggested by
common knowledge in the art [final rejection, page 4].
This rejection is unsound because the examiner has failed to
advance any factual basis for his finding that it is common
knowledge or notoriously well known in the art to use welding to
join the layers of a cam together. Rejections based on 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 must rest on a factual basis. In re Warner, 379 F.2d 1011,
1017, 154 USPQ 173, 177-78 (CCPA 1967). In making such a
rejection, the examiner has the initial duty of supplying the
requisite factual basis and may not, because of doubts that the
invention is patentable, resort to speculation, unfounded
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Last modified: November 3, 2007