Appeal No. 2002-1911 Page 15
Application No. 09/598,087
modification obvious unless the prior art suggested the desirability of the modification.
See In re Gordon, 773 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir. 1984). In this
case, the applied prior art does not suggest the desirability of the modification.
For the reasons set forth above, the decision of the examiner to reject claims 1
to 3, 7 to 15 and 17 to 19 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Mehney in
view of Kiuchi is reversed.
The obviousness rejection of claims 4 to 6 and 16
We have also reviewed the reference to Asche additionally applied in the
rejection of claims 4 to 6 and 16 but find nothing therein which makes up for the
deficiencies of Mehney and Kiuchi discussed above regarding claims 1 to 3, 7 to 15 and
17 to 19. Accordingly, we cannot sustain the examiner's rejection of appealed claims 4
to 6 and 16 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Mehney in view of
Kiuchi and Asche.
The obviousness rejection of claims 4 to 6
We will not sustain the rejection of claims 4 to 6 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Verma in view of Asche.
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