Appeal No. 2002-2244
Application 09/037,586
For a prima facie case of obviousness to be established, the
teachings from the prior art itself must appear to have suggested
the claimed subject matter to one of ordinary skill in the art.
See In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1051, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA
1976). The mere fact that the prior art could be modified as
proposed by the examiner is not sufficient to establish a prima
facie case of obviousness. See In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260,
1266, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1783 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
The examiner has not explained why, considering the lack of
a disclosure by Vines of a criticality of the cleaning solution
pH, and the disclosure by Vines that the citric acid is an
optional cleaning solution component, Vines would have fairly
suggested, to one of ordinary skill in the art, using a
sufficient amount of citric acid in the cleaning solution to
reduce the pH to approximately 2 to 4. The examiner’s mere
statement that the cleaning solution could be acidic (answer,
page 5) is not sufficient to establish that Vines would have
fairly suggested, to one of ordinary skill in the art, an acidic
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