Ex parte HEGLUND - Page 3




          Appeal No. 1999-1941                                                        
          Application No. 08/629,700                                                  


          OPINION                                                                     
              We have considered the rejections advanced by the Examiner             
          and the supporting arguments.  We have, likewise, reviewed the              
          Appellant's arguments set forth in the brief.                               
               We reverse.                                                            
               In our analysis, we are guided by the general proposition              
          that in an appeal involving a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103,              
          an examiner is under a burden to make out a prima facie case of             
          obviousness.  If that burden is met, the burden of going forward            
          then shifts to the applicant to overcome the prima facie case               
          with argument and/or evidence.  Obviousness is then determined              
          on the basis of the evidence as a whole and the relative                    
          persuasiveness of the arguments.  See In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d               
          1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992); In re Hedges,            
          783 F.2d 1038, 1039, 228 USPQ 685, 686 (Fed. Cir. 1986); In re              
          Piasecki, 745 F.2d 1468, 1472, 223 USPQ 785, 788 (Fed. Cir.                 
          1984); and In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189 USPQ 143,               
          147 (CCPA 1976).  We are further guided by the precedent of our             
          reviewing court that the limitations from the disclosure are not            
          to be imported into the claims.  In re Lundberg, 244 F.2d 543,              
          113 USPQ 530 (CCPA 1957); In re Queener, 796 F.2d 461, 230 USPQ             
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