Appeal No. 1999-1552
Application No. 08/678,255
The examiner relies on the following references:
Masumori, et al. (Masumori) 5,168,270 Dec. 01, 1992
Kanatani et al. (Kanatani) 5,414,443 May 09, 1995
Claims 1 and 2 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C § 103 as being
unpatentable over Kanatani in view of Masumori.
Rather than repeat the arguments of appellants and the
examiner, we make reference to the brief and the answer for the
respective details thereof.
OPINION
We have considered the rejections advanced by the examiner
and the supporting arguments. We have, likewise, reviewed the
appellants’ arguments set forth in the brief.
We reverse.
In our analysis, we are guided by the general proposition
that 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
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