Ex parte YUAN - Page 6




          Appeal No. 98-0600                                                          
          Application 08/541,441                                                      

          Alternatively, the examiner finds that it would have been                   
          obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to make the                   
          distance S at less than half of the distance G, because if                  
          not, the magnetic shield members on the sides of the sensor                 
          would shunt away incoming transition flux from the magnetic                 
          medium.  But even assuming that one with ordinary skill in the              
          art would have recognized some shunting effects due to the                  
          shields, the evidence does not support the examiner’s                       
          conclusion that one with ordinary skill in the art would have               
          arrived at the specific upper threshold claimed by the                      
          appellant for distance S, i.e., "half of the distance G."                   
               Just as an attorney’s arguments do not constitute facts,               
          neither do the examiner’s unsubstantiated factual assertions.               
          For the foregoing reasons, the examiner’s conclusion of                     
          obviousness is without adequate factual basis.  Rather, it is               





          highly speculative and based on improper hindsight in light of              
          the appellant’s own disclosed invention.                                    
                                     Conclusion                                       

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