Appeal No. 1998-2899
Application No. 08/632,687
obviousness. See In re Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532, 28
USPQ2d
1955, 1956 (Fed. Cir. 1993). A prima facie case of
obviousness is established by presenting evidence that the
reference teachings would appear to be sufficient for one of
ordinary skill in the relevant art having the references
before him to arrive at the claimed invention. See In re
Lintner, 9 F.2d 1013, 1016, 173 USPQ 560, 562 (CCPA 1972).
Furthermore, the conclusion that the claimed subject matter is
prima facie obvious must be supported
by evidence, as shown by some objective teaching in the prior
art or by knowledge generally available to one of ordinary
skill in the art that would have led that individual to
combine the relevant teachings of the references to arrive at
the claimed
invention. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d
1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988). Rejections based on § 103 must
rest on a factual basis with these facts being interpreted
without hindsight reconstruction of the invention from the
prior art. The examiner may not, because of doubt that the
invention is patentable, resort to speculation, unfounded
8
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