Appeal No. 1999-1728 Page 4
Application No. 08/750,041
991 F.2d 781, 783, 26 USPQ2d 1529, 1531 (Fed. Cir. 1993). If
the examiner fails to establish a prima facie case, the
rejection is improper and will be overturned. See In re Fine,
837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988).
The appellants' invention is directed to a production
line having a framework of vertical posts and plates. Claim
11 is representative and reads as follows:
11. A production line for the manufacture of absorbent
disposable articles, comprising:
plural carrier plates, each for carrying at least one
device used in the manufacture of the absorbent disposable
articles, each device being powered by flowing media;
a framework comprising vertical posts, each of said
carrier plates being carried by at least two of said vertical
posts so that the devices carried by said carrier plates are
sequentially arranged for the manufacture of the absorbent
disposable articles;
a connector carried in one of each set of the two
vertical posts carrying one of said carrier plates, each of
said connectors being connected to a source of the flowing
media; and
each of said carrier plates further comprising a receptor
for conveying the flowing media to the device on the
corresponding one of the carrier plates and for being
connected to the one said connector on the one of the vertical
posts carrying the corresponding one of the carrier plates.
This claim stands rejected over Hermann. The appellants
acknowledge Hermann's disclosure of a production line with
identical module plates mounted in a framework along the
production line (specification, page 2). It is, however,
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