Appeal No. 2003-1525
Application 09/462,876
make their cBN sintered compact, it reasonably appears that the
cBN sintered compacts of Suzuki and JP ‘068 are the same or
substantially the same as that of the appellants.
The examiner, therefore, has not carried the burden of
establishing a prima facie case of anticipation of the
appellants’ claimed cutting tool by either Suzuki or JP ‘068.
Although the examiner rejects claims 1 and 4-8 also under
35 U.S.C. § 103 over Suzuki or JP ‘068, the examiner does not
provide any reason why these references would have fairly
suggested, to one of ordinary skill in the art, a cBN sintered
compact having the properties recited in the appellants’ claim 1.
For the above reasons we reverse the rejections of claims 1
and 4-8 under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102(b) and 103 over Suzuki or JP ‘068.
Rejection of claims 9 and 10
Suzuki discloses a process for producing a cutting tool
sintered compact containing cBN having an average primary crystal
grain size of preferably at most 1.0 :m, comprising direct
conversion of a low pressure phase boron nitride into cBN while
simultaneously sintering (col. 1, lines 9-10; col. 2, lines 44-
46; col. 4, lines 4-7 and 64-67).
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