Appeal No. 2001-1231
Application No. 08/976,371
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Wideman (id.). Claim 27
stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over
Wideman in view of Wolff (Answer, page 4).
We affirm the examiner’s rejections of claim 14 under the
first paragraph of section 112 and claims 7-11 under sections
102(b) or 103(a) over Warner essentially for the reasons set
forth in the Answer and those stated below. We reverse the
examiner’s rejections under sections 102(b) or 103(a) over
Wideman and under section 103(a) over Wideman in view of Wolff
for reasons which follow. Accordingly, the decision of the
examiner is affirmed-in-part.
OPINION
A. The Rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶1
The initial burden of establishing unpatentability, on any
ground, rests with the examiner. See In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d
1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992). In a
rejection based on the written description requirement of the
first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112, the examiner can meet this
burden by establishing that the claimed subject matter in
4
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