Appeal No. 96-3486
Application No. 08/291,565
of the aforementioned results from the Experiments, which
support the criticality of the selection of refractory
inorganic
oxides and use of iron salts in the atomized powder, this
position necessarily fails.
The prior art teaches atomizing aqueous suspensions
of amorphous alumina, cerium and iron salts (Brunelle),
and cerium and crystalline alumina (Koberstein). After
reviewing the results of both Experiments, it is fair to
conclude that appellants’ invention involves selecting
the right refractory inorganic salt to atomize and
combining it with at least one cerium salt and one iron
salt. The evidence demonstrates a criticality in
combining the cerium salt, iron salt and one of the
prescribed refractory inorganic oxides. Only the
appellants, not the prior art, could have forecast this
relationship. After balancing all the evidence of
obviousness against that of nonobviousness, and taking
into consideration the experimental data, assuming
arguendo that examiner established a prima facie
case of obviousness, we find the evidence of
nonobviousness clearly sufficient to overcome any such
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