Appeal No. 1997-1992 Page 5
Application No. 08/115,388
Watanabe, Japan Pat. Disclosure Bulletin 49-124001 , Nov. 27, 2
1974.
Otsuki et al. (Otsuki), Canadian Pat. No. 975708, Oct. 07,
1975
Claims 10 and 15-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as being unpatentable over the combined teachings of Otsuki,
Watanabe, and Tung.
OPINION
We have carefully considered all of the arguments
advanced by appellants and the examiner and agree with
appellants that the aforementioned rejection is not well
founded. Accordingly, we reverse the stated rejection.
At the outset, we note that the examiner has the initial
burden of presenting a prima facie case of obviousness based
on the disclosure of the applied prior art. See In re
Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir.
1992).
The claimed distillation method requires the presence of
a polymerization inhibitor composition that includes, as one
2All subsequent references in this opinion to Watanabe are
a reference to the English language translation of the
Japanese Disclosure Bulletin of record.
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