Ex parte FARMAKIS et al. - Page 6




          Appeal No. 1998-0224                                                        
          Application No. 08/291,564                                                  


               In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, it is                       
          incumbent upon the Examiner to establish a factual basis to                 
          support the legal conclusion of obviousness.  See In re Fine,               
          837 F.2d 1071, 1073, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988).  In              
          so                                                                          
          doing, the Examiner is expected to make the factual                         
          determinations set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S.              
          1,                                                                          
          17-18, 148 USPQ 459, 467 (1966), and to provide a reason why                
          one                                                                         
          having ordinary skill in the pertinent art would have been led              
          to                                                                          
          modify the prior art or to combine prior art references to                  
          arrive                                                                      
          at the claimed invention.  Such reason must stem from some                  
          teaching, suggestion or implication in the prior art as a                   
          whole                                                                       
          or knowledge generally available to one having ordinary skill               
          in                                                                          
          the art.  Uniroyal, Inc. v. Rudkin-Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044,              
          1051, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1438 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S.               
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