Ex Parte COUSINS et al - Page 7




                    Appeal No. 2002-0814                                                                                                                                  
                    Application No. 09/112,261                                                                                                                            


                    Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988).                                                                                      
                    Only if this initial burden is met does the burden of coming                                                                                          
                    forward with evidence or argument shift to the Appellants.                                                                                            
                    Oetiker, 977 F.2d at 1445, 24 USPQ2d at 1444.  See also Piasecki,                                                                                     
                    745 F.2d at 1472, 223 USPQ at 788.                                                                                                                    
                              An obviousness analysis commences with a review and                                                                                         
                    consideration of all the pertinent evidence and arguments.  "In                                                                                       
                    reviewing the [E]xaminer's decision on appeal, the Board must                                                                                         
                    necessarily weigh all the evidence and arguments."  In re                                                                                             
                    Oetiker, 977 F.2d at 1445, 24 USPQ2d at 1444.  "[T]he Board must                                                                                      
                    not only assure that the requisite findings are made, based on                                                                                        
                    evidence of record, but must also explain the reasoning by which                                                                                      
                    the findings are deemed to support the agency's conclusion."  In                                                                                      
                    re Lee, 277 F.3d 1338, 1344, 61 USPQ2d 1430, 1434 (Fed. Cir.                                                                                          
                    2002).  With these principles in mind, we commence review of the                                                                                      
                    pertinent evidence and arguments of Appellants and Examiner.                                                                                          
                              Appellants argue that Hendricks does not teach or suggest                                                                                   
                    resolving the expression into a Boolean truth-value by analyzing                                                                                      
                    the database result information as recited in Appellants' claim                                                                                       
                    1.  See page 7 of the brief and page 5 of Appellants' reply                                                                                           
                    brief.                                                                                                                                                


                                                                                    77                                                                                    





Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007