Appeal No. 95-2413
Application 07/936,865
L(r) is the arc length swept by a portion of the curve 67 at a
radius r, not the width of the path at radius r. That is,
from figures 8 and 9, assuming the spiral curve 67 alone
causes erosion (because the spiral curve 67 corresponds to the
plasma region 55 and has "a very narrow width," col. 5,
lines 60-61), the swept arc length L(r) increases in
proportion to the radius r. Thus, arc a-b exposes the target
underneath the same amount of time as arc b-c, arc c-d, etc.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that
the arrangement of magnets in Sato '375 was intended to
perform the same function as that in Suzuki.
Wegman, Elmgren, and Sawada
These references are discussed with respect to Group 2.
Level of ordinary skill
The references are the only evidence of the knowledge and
level of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Oelrich,
579 F.2d 86, 91, 198 USPQ 210, 214 (CCPA 1978) ("the PTO
usually must evaluate both the scope and content of the prior
art and the level of ordinary skill solely on the cold words
of the literature"); In re GPAC Inc., 57 F.3d 1573, 1579,
35 USPQ2d 1116, 1121 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (the Board did not err
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Last modified: November 3, 2007