Appeal No. 96-1841
Application 08/101,324
Appellant argues that "[s]ince the Koijak [sic] patent
and the Smith patent are directed to completely unrelated
problems a person of ordinary skill in the art would find
nothing in these patents to combine their teachings" (Br7).
The examiner states that both Smith and Kuijk '748 are "both
concerned with linearizing the output signal of a head"
(EA7-8) and "[b]oth Smith and Kuijk bias the MR head about
45 degrees relative to the current flow" (EA8). Since both
Kuijk '748 and Smith are in the same field endeavor of MR
sensors, one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the teachings of one could be applied to the
other. The suggestion to modify the references has been
discussed, supra.
Appellant further argues that the combination of
teachings of Kuijk and Smith would not produce the claimed
invention because a person of ordinary skill would follow
the teachings of Smith in which the electrically conducting
layer (the bonding pads 34 and 36) is between the
magnetoresistive element and the spacer layer of
electrically insulating material, whereas claim 1 calls for
the spacer layer to be on a side of the magnetoresistive
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