Appeal No. 1998-3339 Page 9
Application No. 08/614,459
1164, 196 USPQ 209, 217 (CCPA 1977). Although couched in
terms of combining prior art references, the same requirement
applies in the context of modifying such a reference.
Here, the examiner’s rejection admits that neither
Hopkins nor Miller teaches sampling data relating to rejected
products instead of data relating to both accepted and
rejected products. In addition, his broad, conclusory opinion
of obviousness does not meet the requirement for actual
evidence.
Because Hopkins and Miller merely sample data for both
accepted and rejected products, we are not persuaded that the
teachings from the prior art would appear to have suggested
the limitations of "a) defining a set of reject
classifications for products produced by the process; b)
sampling data relating to rejected products obtained from the
process for the defined set of reject classifications ...."
Therefore, we reverse the rejection of claims 1-3 as being
obvious over Hopkins and as being obvious over Miller.
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