Appeal No. 1999-0231
Application No. 08/472,354
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 assumption or
hindsight reconstruction to supply deficiencies in the factual
basis for the rejection. See In re Warner, 379 F.2d 1011,
1017, 154 USPQ 173, 177 (CCPA 1967), cert. denied, 389 U.S.
1057 (1968).
Fellows discloses a first embodiment (see Fig. 1) in
which a stretchable seamless printing sleeve 17 is fitted onto
8
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