Appeal No. 97-3776
Application No. 08/396,501
Waddoups et al. (Waddoups) 4,938,880 Jul. 3, 1990
Fetterman, Jr. et al. (Fetterman) 5,102,566 Apr. 7, 1992
Appealed claims 1-14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as being unpatentable over Fetterman in view of Waddoups.
Upon careful consideration of the opposing arguments
presented on appeal, we find that the examiner has failed to
establish a prima facie case of obviousness for the claimed
subject matter. Accordingly, we will not sustain the
examiner's rejection.
There is apparently no dispute that Fetterman discloses a
lubricant comprising the four components recited in the
appealed claims. However, the appealed claims specifically
require, inter alia, that "the nitrogenous TBN source provides
at least about 1.5 TBN to the lubricant" and that "the metal
salt of an oil soluble acid provides at least about 40% of the
total TBN of the lubricant." Appellants set forth at page 4
of the Brief that Examples 2 and 5 of the present
specification demonstrate the significance of the nitrogenous
TBN source providing at least about 1.5 TBN to the lubricant
and of the metal salt of an oil soluble acid providing at
least about 40% of the total TBN of the lubricant. It is
appellants' position that Fetterman, the primary reference,
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