Ex parte SIEMERS - Page 13




          Appeal No. 1998-2849                                      Page 13           
          Application No. 08/584,158                                                  


          The obviousness issue                                                       
               We will not sustain the rejection of claims 38, 40 and 42              
          through 61 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.                                           


               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 invention.  See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071,                   
          1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988).                                 







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