Appeal No. 1997-3260
Application 08/506,153
preform by occupying the residual pores (col. 5, lines 8-12).
The examiner apparently assumes that one of ordinary
skill in the art, given the graduated fiber density of Boury,
would have been led to modify the methods of the primary
references to achieve a graduated fiber density. The examiner
has the initial burden of explaining why the applied
references would have provided one of ordinary skill in the
art with both a motivation to make such a modification and a
reasonable expectation of success in doing so, see In re
Vaeck, 947 F.2d 488, 493, 20 USPQ2d 1438, 1442 (Fed. Cir.
1991); In re O’Farrell, 853 F.2d 894, 902, 7 USPQ2d 1673, 1680
(Fed. Cir. 1988), and has not set forth such an explanation.
Regardless, even if one of ordinary skill in the art had
been led to provide in the primary references the graduated
fiber density of Boury, the examiner has not established that
doing so would have produced the claimed invention.
Appellants’ claims require that the fiber density is lower
near what will become the surface of the composite exposed to
high temperature, oxidizing conditions, whereas Boury’s fiber
density is highest at that surface. The examiner argues that
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