Appeal No. 2000-1917
Application 09/076,863
(answer, page 4). The result presumably would be a
fluororesin tube and holding plate arrangement having the
joint structure recited in claim 1.
The problem here, however, is that the joint structure
disclosed by the German reference, which is necessary to meet
the structural limitations in claim 1, is designed to overcome
problems specific to joints between metal tubes and tube
plates. The examiner has not cogently explained, nor is it
evident, why a person of ordinary skill in the art would have
found it obvious to utilize such joint structure in
conjunction with tubes and tube plates made of fluororesins.
Indeed, it is not even clear that fluororesins would be
suitable for use with the autogenic or electrical weld
component of the German joint structure. We are therefore
constrained to conclude that the only suggestion for
combining the German reference and Johnson in the manner
proposed by the examiner stems from impermissible hindsight
knowledge derived from the appellants’ disclosure.
Accordingly, we shall not sustain the standing 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) rejection of claim 1, or of claims 6 and 8 which
6
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