Appeal No. 1997-3478
Application 08/397,648
the back wall to be inclined, since Fujita is not concerned at
all with the same problem as appellants of preventing two disc
cassettes having shutters from catching on each other. This
is due to the fact that Fujita concerns a single disc
cassette, whereas appellants’ invention pertains to the
shuffling of multiple discs in a disc player such as that
shown in appellants’ Figure 13. Accordingly, we cannot
sustain the rejection of claims 1 to 6 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Appellants argue (Brief, pages 6 to 7) that the feature
of claim 3 of a perpendicular/inclined back wall combination
is also neither taught nor suggested by Fujita. Appellants
also argue (Brief, page 9) that the feature of claim 4 of an
inclined back wall having a contoured convex curve is also
neither taught nor suggested by Fujita. Because we have
found, as discussed supra, that Fujita would not have fairly
taught or suggested even an angled or inclined back wall as
recited in representative claim 1, we are in agreement with
appellants that Fujita would not have taught or suggested any
further modification of the back wall to include a
perpendicular/inclined combination as recited in claims 3 and
6, or a contoured convex curve as recited in claim 4. We
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