Appeal No. 97-0260
Application 08/287,477
claims 13 and 14; the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over
Lewis, Janz and Oliver is affirmed with respect to claim 17,
but reversed with respect to claim 20. Accordingly, we affirm
in part.
In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, the Examiner
bears the initial burden of presenting a prima facie case of
obviousness. See In re Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532, 28
USPQ2d 1955, 1956 (Fed. Cir. 1993). A prima facie case of
obviousness
is established by presenting evidence that the reference
teachings would appear to be sufficient for one of ordinary
skill in the relevant art having the references before him to
make the proposed combination or other modification. See In
re Lintner, 458 F.2d 1013, 1016, 173 USPQ 560, 562 (CCPA
1972). Furthermore, the conclusion that the claimed subject
matter is prima facie obvious must be supported by evidence,
as shown by some objective teaching in the prior art or by
knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the
art that would have led that individual to combine the
relevant teachings of the references to arrive at the claimed
-5-
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007