Appeal No. 1998-2267
Application 08/339,084
the examiner's reasoning in support of the rejection, and to the appellant's Brief for the
appellant's arguments thereagainst. As a consequence of our review, we make the
determinations which follow.
35 U.S.C. § 103
Claims 1-8 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Podda in view of Shironaga.
In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, the examiner bears the initial burden of
presenting a prima facie case of 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
when the teachings from the prior art itself would appear to have suggested the claimed
subject matter to a person of ordinary skill in the art. In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 783, 26
USPQ2d 1529, 1531 (Fed. Cir. 1993). An obviousness analysis requires that the prior art
both suggest the claimed subject matter and reveal a reasonable expectation of success
to one reasonably skilled in the art. In re Vaeck, 947 F.2d 488, 493, 20 USPQ2d 1438,
1442 (Fed. Cir. 1991). With this as background, we analyze the prior art applied by the
examiner in the rejection of the claims on appeal.
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a liver condition which involves the
development of histologic changes in the liver which are comparable to those induced by
excessive alcohol intake, but in the absence of alcohol. NASH is commonly associated
with hyperlipidemia, obesity, and type II diabetes mellitus. Specification, page 1.
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