Appeal No. 2001-2416
Application No. 08/843,978
Claims 1-8 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103. As evidence of obviousness,
the examiner offers Kii, Hintze and Tanaka with regard to claims 1, 6 and 7, adding
Kawashima with regard to claims 2-5 and 8.
Reference is made to the brief, the answer and the final rejection for the
respective positions of appellant and the examiner.
OPINION
In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, it is incumbent upon the examiner to
establish a factual basis to support the legal conclusion of obviousness. See In re Fine,
837 F.2d 1071, 1073, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988). In so doing, the
examiner is expected to make the factual determinations set forth in Graham v, John
Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 17, 148 USPQ 459, 467 (1966), and to provide a reason why
one having ordinary skill in the pertinent art would have been led to modify the prior art
or to combine prior art references to arrive at the claimed invention. Such reason much
stem from some teachings, suggestions or implications in the prior art as a whole or
knowledge generally available to one having ordinary skill in the art. Uniroyal, Inc. v.
Rudkin-Wiley Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1051, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1438 (Fed. Cir. 1988), cert.
denied, 488 U.S. 825 (1988); Ashland Oil, Inc. v. Delta Resins & Refractories, Inc. , 776
F.2d 281, 293, 227 USPQ 657, 664 (Fed. Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1017
(1986); ACS Hosp. Sys., Inc. v. Montefiore Hosp., 732 F.2d 1572, 1577, 221 USPQ
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