Appeal No. 1997-2248
Application No. 08/378,513
pertaining to the provision and positioning of a “gear insert”
and the mounting of a “ratchet mechanism” in the insert.
Rejections based on 35 U.S.C. § 103 must rest on a factual
basis. In re Warner, 379 F.2d 1011, 1017, 154 USPQ 173, 178
(CCPA 1967). In making such a rejection, the examiner has the
initial duty of supplying the requisite factual basis and may
not, because of doubts that the invention is patentable,
resort to speculation, unfounded assumptions or hindsight
reconstruction to supply deficiencies in the factual basis.
Id. Here, the examiner (see page 7 in the answer) has failed
to supply any factual basis to support a conclusion that the
above noted differences between the subject matter recited in
claims 9 and 14 and Lucas are such
10
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