Appeal No. 1997-1122 Page 4
Application No. 08/170,177
OPINION
We have carefully considered the respective positions
advanced by appellant and the examiner. In so doing, we find
ourselves in agreement with appellant's position that the
rejections are not well-founded. Accordingly, we will not
sustain the stated rejections.
It is the burden of the examiner to establish why one
having ordinary skill in the art would have been led to the
claimed invention by the reasonable teachings or suggestions
found in the prior art, or by a reasonable inference to the
artisan contained in such teachings or suggestions. See In re
Sernaker, 702 F.2d 989, 217 USPQ 1 (Fed. Cir. 1983). This the
examiner has not done.
Valley discloses a device comprising an absorption mat
made of an open-cell polyurethane foam block that is disclosed
as being useful for hydrocarbon absorption and collection.
Crouch discloses the use of rubbery and thermoplastic polymers
as part of a powder composition that is disclosed as useful
for removing floating hydrocarbons from an aqueous body.
Stark teaches that rubber scrap and a binder may be used as
part of a composition which may be molded to form "rubber-like
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