Appeal No. 2000-2001
Application No. 09/172,732
Claims 1-21 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Miyamoto in view of the admitted prior art.
Rather than repeat the arguments of Appellants and the
Examiner, we make reference to the brief (paper no. 8) and the
Examiner’s answer (paper no. 9) for the respective details
thereof.
OPINION
We have considered the rejections advanced by the Examiner
and the supporting arguments. We have, likewise, reviewed the
Appellants’ arguments set forth in the brief.
We reverse.
REJECTION UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 103
As a general proposition, 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.
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