Appeal No. 1999-1489
Application No. 08/691,193
welding is recognized as being a highly efficient method of
attaching metals, but has adduced no evidence of such
recognition by those of ordinary skill in the art. Cf. In re
Dembiczak, 175 F.3d 994, 999, 50 USPQ2d 1614, 1617 (Fed. Cir.
1999). As appellant succinctly states on page 8 of the brief:
The mere fact that a particular welding step, per
se is known, does not make every method that includes
that particular welding step obvious.
Although friction welding is of course known, the record is
devoid of any evidence of a suggestion, teaching or motivation
which would have led one of ordinary skill to use friction
welding instead of fusion welding (particularly MIG welding)in
Kosik’s disclosed process. Absent such evidence, it appears
that any such modification of Kosik would be based on improper
hindsight gleaned from appellant’s own disclosure.
We, therefore, will not sustain the rejection of claim 1,
nor of independent claim 8, as to which the applied prior art is
similarly deficient. The rejection of dependent claims 2 to 7,
9 and 10 will likewise not be sustained. Moreover, the
rejection of claims 4 and 5, which call for insertion of the
stud into the hole in the plate after the stud is welded to the
driveshaft, will not
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