Appeal No. 1998-0434
Application 08/620,745
1972).
The appellants argue that any prima facie case of
obviousness has been overcome by the evidence in the
declaration of Watanabe, filed August 21, 1995 (paper no. 6).
In this declaration Watanabe compares fixing solutions which
each contain one of gluconic acid, tartaric acid and citric
acid, and shows that no stains of a first fixing roller and
light sensitive material were observed when glutaric acid was
used, but that stains sometimes were observed when the acid
used was tartaric or citric acid. For the following reasons,
this evidence is not effective for overcoming the prima facie
case of obviousness.
First, the appellants’ showing of unexpected results does
not provide a comparison of the claimed invention with the
closest prior art. See In re Baxter Travenol Labs., 952 F.2d
388, 392, 21 USPQ2d 1281, 1285 (Fed. Cir. 1991); In re De
Blauwe, 736 F.2d 699, 705, 222 USPQ 191, 196 (Fed. Cir. 1984).
The references specifically disclose that the fixing solution
can contain gluconic acid (Yamada, col. 10, lines 3-5;
Nishigaki, col. 15, lines 55-57). Thus, the comparison with
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