Appeal No. 1997-2958 12
Application No. 08/401,719
The examiner concludes from this passage that Komatsubara “clearly teaches a temperature range (i.e.,
350-560°C) at which Al-Mg alloys undergo recrystallization” . The examiner further concludes that “a2
person skilled in the art of heat treating superplastic Al-Mg alloys would understand that
unrecrystallized alloy microstructures prevail whenever the final anneal step is performed at
temperatures lower than 350°C.” 3
The appellants argue in the brief at pages 14 and 15 that the inference that non-recrystallized
structure prevails below 350°C is flawed. The Board agrees. While one can infer from
Komatsubara’s disclosure that recrystallization occurs between the temperatures of 350 to 560°C, one
cannot infer from the Komatsubara disclosure that recrystallization does not occur at lower
temperatures.
We are not persuaded, however, that the examiner’s flawed inference results in a fatal flaw in
the prima facie case of obviousness. Claim 4 is directed to casting, rolling and annealing at specific
temperatures and times, i.e. 150-250°C for 0 to 5 minutes. Even without the examiner’s flawed
inference, the fact remains that Komatsubara teaches continuous annealing at 35 to 550°C for 0 to 3
minutes . As the examiner pointed out in the final rejection, Komatsubara suggests using final anneal4
2 Final rejection, page 3, lines 15-16.
3Final rejection, page 3, lines 16-19.
4Komatsubara recites 180 seconds at col. 8, line 8. 180 seconds equals 3 minutes.
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