Appeal No. 2001-2654 Page 3
Application No. 09/069,192
in support of the rejection, and to the brief (Paper No. 10,
filed May 22, 2000) and reply brief (Paper No. 13, filed
September 27, 2000) for the appellants' arguments
thereagainst.
OPINION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given
careful consideration to the appellants' specification and
claim 1, to the applied prior art, and to the respective
positions articulated by the appellants and the examiner.
Upon evaluation of all the evidence before us, it is our
conclusion that the evidence adduced by the examiner is
insufficient to establish a prima facie case of obviousness
with respect to the claim under appeal. Accordingly, we will
not sustain the examiner's rejection of claim 1 under 35
U.S.C. § 103. Our reasoning for this determination follows.
In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, the examiner
bears the initial burden of presenting a prima facie case of
obviousness. See In re Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532, 28
USPQ2d 1955, 1956 (Fed. Cir. 1993). A prima facie case of
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