Appeal No. 1997-1572 Application 07/792,534 forward then shifts to the applicant to overcome the prima facie case with argument and/or evidence. Obviousness is then determined on the basis of the evidence as a whole and the relative persuasiveness of the arguments. See In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992); In re Hedges, 783 F.2d 1038, 1039, 228 USPQ 685, 686 (Fed. Cir. 1986); In re Piasecki, 745 F.2d 1468, 1472, 223 USPQ 785, 788 (Fed. Cir. 1984); and In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA 1976). We are further guided by the precedence of our reviewing court that the limitations from the disclosure are not to be imported into the claims. In re Lundberg, 244 F.2d 543, 113 USPQ 530 (CCPA 1957); In re Queener, 796 F.2d 461, 230 USPQ 438 (Fed. Cir. 1986). We also note that the arguments not made separately for any individual claim or claims are considered waived. See 37 CFR § 1.192 (a) and (c). In re Baxter Travenol Labs., 952 F.2d 388, 391, 21 USPQ2d 1281, 1285 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (“It is not the function of this court to examine the claims in greater detail than argued by an appellant, looking for nonobvious distinctions over the prior art.”); In re Wiechert, 370 F.2d 927, 936, 152 USPQ 247, 5Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007