Appeal No. 2001-0080
Application No. 08/577,217
Krishnan et al. 5,143,967 Sep. 1, 1992
(Krishnan)
Bergh et al. 5,447,971 Sep. 5, 1995
(Bergh) (effective filing date Apr. 2, 1993)
Teeple et al. 5,518,055 May 21, 1996
(Teeple) (filing date Sep. 20, 1994)
U.S. Rubber Co. 544,757 Apr. 27, 1942
(GB '757)(published GB
patent application)
T.M. Aminabhavi & P.E. Cassidy, Electrical Resistivity of
Carbon-Black-Loaded Rubbers, 63 RUBBER CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY 451-
471 (1990)(Aminabhavi).
Claims 1, 6 through 9, 11, and 12 on appeal stand rejected
under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over the combined
teachings of Hanson, GB '757, Teeple, Bergh, Krishnan, and
Aminabhavi. (Examiner’s answer, pages 6-13.)
We reverse this rejection.
To reject claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as prima facie
obvious over a combination of references, both the suggestion to
combine the references and the reasonable expectation of success
must be founded in the prior art, not from the appellants’ own
disclosure. In re Vaeck, 947 F.2d 488, 493, 20 USPQ2d 1438,
1442 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (citing In re Dow Chemical Co., 837 F.2d
469, 473, 5 USPQ2d 1529, 1531 (Fed. Cir. 1988)). In this
regard, our reviewing court has repeatedly stated that the
examiner must point to some teaching or motivation in the prior
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