Appeal No. 1997-2924
Application No. 08/320,726
Nagao et al. (Nagao) (JP) 1-284785 Jun. 21, 1991
All of the appealed claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 as being unpatentable over Nagao and Glotin in view of
Fukui.
For the reasons which follow, we cannot sustain this
rejection.
As argued by the appellants and recognized by the
examiner, none of the applied references discloses an article
of manufacture which includes a weld line. Nevertheless, the
examiner concludes that such an article made from a
composition in accordance with the appealed claims would have
been suggested by these references. This is because, in the
examiner’s view, the reference disclosures are generic to
articles having a weld line and to compositions of the type
defined by the appealed claims. We cannot agree.
It is well established that obviousness under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 requires a suggestion to modify and a reasonable
expectation of success. In re O’Farrell, 853 F.2d 894, 903-
04, 7 USPQ2d 1673, 1680-81 (Fed. Cir. 1988).
This requirement for obviousness is not satisfied by the
applied references in light of their aforenoted deficiency
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