Appeal No. 2001-1863
Application No. 08/603,665
Mizoguchi and Morris is central to all the combinations rejecting
the claims on appeal. Therefore, we analyze the rejection of
claim 1 which is based on Mizoguchi and Morris, and which
constitutes the basic grounds for the rejections of all the claims
on appeal.
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. 1984); and In re
Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA 1976).
Following the above guidelines, the Examiner sets forth in
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