Ex parte USHIYAMA et al. - Page 6




          Appeal No. 1998-1078                                       Page 6           
          Application No. 08/442,532                                                  


               We begin by noting the following principles from In re                 
          Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532, 28 USPQ2d 1955, 1956 (Fed. Cir.               
          1993).                                                                      
               In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. Section 103, the                   
               examiner bears the initial burden of presenting a                      
               prima facie case of obviousness.  In re Oetiker, 977                   
               F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir.                       
               1992)....  "A prima facie case of obviousness is                       
               established when the teachings from the prior art                      
               itself would appear to have suggested the claimed                      
               subject matter to a person of ordinary skill in the                    
               art."  In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 782, 26 USPQ2d                        
               1529, 1531 (Fed. Cir. 1993) (quoting In re Rinehart,                   
               531 F.2d 1048, 1051, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA 1976)).                   
               If the examiner fails to establish a prima facie                       
               case, the rejection is improper and will be                            
               overturned.  In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5                        
               USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988).                                    
          With these principles in mind, we consider the examiner's                   
          rejection and the appellants' argument.                                     




               Admitting that AAPA does not shift a frequency generating              
          magnetized portion to produce the claimed timing relationship               
          between the torque ripple and the output signal of the                      
          frequency generating magnets, the examiner asserts, "Imai et                
          al. disclose many specific examples of frequency generating                 
          magnets being shifted in a number of ways, depending upon the               







Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007