Appeal No. 1998-0889
Application 08/006,585
This is not to say that the combination of Hakamatsuka and
Otsuka is without any merit. Hakamatsuka discloses printing on a
pre-manufactured plastic card using a thermal transfer method to for
non-gradational images, such as a name. Otsuka discloses printing
directly on plastic using an oil-based ink with a plotter to make an
ID card. The plastic has a "prepared writing surface" since the
information can be written directly on its surface. The translation
in Otsuka discloses that the plotter can be used to make one card at
a time (translation, p. 9); thus, both Hakamatsuka and Otsuka
disclose printing a single card. Since both Hakamatsuka and Otsuka
are directed to making cards, one of ordinary skill in the art of
creating customized cards would have considered it obvious to use the
plotter of Otsuka to write on a pre-manufactured card, instead of the
thermal transfer method in Hakamatsuka, because the plotter was a
known alternative way to print a card. The Examiner's taking of
Official Notice of "equivalents" was not required; the reasoning in
the response (EA11-12) is much more persuasive.
The plotter in Otsuka (and, indeed, any conventional plotter)
has a pen which constitutes a "means for delivering the ink." Thus,
it was not necessary for the Examiner to take Official Notice of this
fact. Also, it would have been within the knowledge of one of
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