Ex parte FULLER et al. - Page 14




          Appeal No. 1998-2924                                                        
          Application NO. 08/276,290                                                  



          looking for nonobvious distinctions over the prior art."  Just              
          as our reviewing court does not, sua sponte, raise or consider              
          issues not argued, we are similarly not burdened to do the                  
          same.                                                                       
               Based on the foregoing, we find that the admitted prior                
          art and Sagara teach all Appellants' claim 3 limitations.                   
          Because we find that the admitted prior art and Sagara read on              
          Appellants' claims, we do not consider the Tanabe reference                 
          and affirm the Examiner's rejection of claim 3 based solely on              
          the admitted prior art and Sagara references.  We do not                    
          consider this to be a new ground of rejection.  As In re                    
          Halley states, "[I]t is proper . . . to study the whole of the              
          various references in the record and to apply one rather than               
          a combination of two or three against the claims . . . ."  In               
          re Halley, 296 F.2d 774, 778, 132 USPQ 16, 20 (CCPA 1961).                  
          See also In re Kronig and Scharfe, 539 F.2d 1300, 1044, 190                 
          USPQ 425, 426-427 (CCPA 1976).                                              
               Appellants have already acknowledged that claims 4, 7, 8,              
          11, 24, 25, and 28 stand or fall together with claim 3.                     
          Accordingly, we affirm the Examiner's rejection of claims 4,                

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