Appeal No. 1997-3911 Application 08/368,758 Because appellants do not take issue with the examiner's reliance on the definitions in this dictionary, those definitions may be considered, if necessary. Grouping of claims Appellants treat dependent claims 15-17, 19, 20, 22, and 23 as standing or falling with claim 14 and argue claim 18 separately (Brief at 5). The level of skill in the art The level of skill in the art is represented by the references. In re Oelrich, 579 F.2d 86, 91, 198 USPQ 210, 214 (CCPA 1978) ("the PTO usually must evaluate both the scope and content of the prior art and the level of ordinary skill solely on the cold words of the literature"). In re GPAC Inc., 57 F.3d 1573, 1579, 35 USPQ2d 1116, 1121 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (Board did not err in adopting the approach that the level of skill in the art was best determined by the references of record). Appellants' burden of proof on appeal In re Rouffet, 149 F.3d 1350, 1355, 47 USPQ2d 1453, 1455 (Fed. Cir. 1998), explains that - 9 -Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007