Appeal No. 1999-1565
Application No. 08/494,227
"[o]bviousness may not be established using hindsight or in
view of the teachings or suggestions of the invention." Para-
Ordnance Mfg. v. SGS Importers Int’l, 73 F.3d at 1087, 37
USPQ2d at 1239, citing W. L. Gore & Assocs., Inc. v. Garlock,
Inc., 721 F.2d at 1551, 1553, 220 USPQ at 311, 312-13. In
addition, our reviewing court requires the PTO to make
specific findings on a suggestion to combine prior art
references. In re Dembiczak, 175 F.3d 994, 1000-01, 50 USPQ2d
1614, 1617-19 (Fed. Cir. 1999).
On page 7 of the Appeal Brief (hereinafter "brief"),
Appellants assert that plate type actuators (such as those of
Suzuki) by their very nature are more compact, or capable of
being more compact, than a printhead employing tubular
piezoelectric elements which surround the ink channel. In
addition, as the Kattner printhead structure is driven by the
space limitations imposed by the tubular piezoelectric
elements it would not be physically possible to bring the
nozzle openings of the ink channels any closer together than
the spacings imposed by the outer diameter of the
piezoelectric tubes surrounding the channels. Thus,
Appellants contend that Kattner uses the channel plate to
7
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