Appeal No. 2003-0033
Application No. 09/186,546
"Deficiencies of the cited references cannot be remedied by the Board's general
conclusions about what is ‘basic knowledge’ or ‘common sense.’” In re Zurko, 258
F.3d 1379, 1385, 59 USPQ2d 1693, 1697(Fed. Cir. 2001). Furthermore, "the Board's
findings must extend to all material facts and must be documented on the record, lest
the ‘haze of so-called expertise’ acquire insulation from accountability." In re Lee, 277
F.3d 1338, 1345, 61 USPQ2d 1430, 1435 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Here, we find the
Examiner's arguments to be supported merely by the Examiner's own expertise instead
of the evidence of record and the teachings of prior art which are required in order to
establish a prima facie case of obviousness. Accordingly, we do not sustain the 35
U.S.C. § 103 rejection of any of claims 1-6 and 9-14 over Sourgen.
CONCLUSION
To summarize, the decision of the examiner to reject claims 1-6 and 9-14 under
35 U.S.C. § 103 is reversed.
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007