Appeal No. 2001-1527
Application No. 08/753,265
process outlined by Donohoe would have been obvious. (Id. at
11–12.) However, the examiner has not directed our attention to
any factual basis in the prior art of record supporting these
determinations. As our reviewing court has repeatedly
emphasized, “[t]he Board’s findings must extend to all material
facts and must be documented on the record, lest the ‘haze of so-
called expertise’ acquire insulation from accountability.
‘Common knowledge and common sense,’ even if assumed to derive
from the agency’s expertise, do not substitute for authority when
the law requires authority.” In re Lee, 277 F.3d 1338, 1344–45,
61 USPQ2d 1430, 1435 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Even granting, arguendo,
the premise that polyester sheet molding temperatures are
recognized to be between 90°F and 230°F, and that both Medwed and
Bullock provide a reason to cool the center of a sheet, we find
no reason in these references or in the general knowledge
appealed to by the examiner to select the range of 90 to 130°F
for the center, and 180 to 230°F for the periphery. For this
reason, we are constrained to reverse the rejection of
claims 17–19.
Rejection 3
As explained in our reversal of Rejection 2, neither Bullock
or Medweg provides any teachings that would direct one of
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