Appeal No. 1998-1798 Page 12
Application No. 08/596,538
with the tape cartridge as recited in claim 17. 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 invention. See In re
Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir.
1988). Rejections based on § 103 must rest on a factual basis
with these facts being interpreted without hindsight
reconstruction of the invention from the prior art. The
examiner may not, because of doubt that the invention is
patentable, resort to speculation, unfounded assumption or
hindsight reconstruction to supply deficiencies in the factual
basis for the rejection. See In re Warner, 379 F.2d 1011,
1017, 154 USPQ 173, 177 (CCPA 1967), cert. denied, 389 U.S.
1057 (1968).
For the reasons stated above, the examiner has not
presented a prima facie case of obviousness with respect to
the claims on appeal. Accordingly, the decision of the
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