Appeal No. 2003-0755 Application No. 09/190,993 Appellants indicate (Brief, page 4) that the claims on appeal stand or fall together as a group. Consistent with this indication, Appellants’ arguments are directed solely to features which are set forth in independent claim 14. Accordingly, we will select independent claim 14 as the representative claim for all the claims on appeal, and claims 15-24 will stand or fall with claim 14. Note In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 1325, 231 USPQ 136, 137 (Fed. Cir. 1986); In re Sernaker, 702 F.2d 989, 991, 217 USPQ 1, 3 (Fed. Cir. 1983). As a general proposition in an appeal involving a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103, an Examiner is under a burden to make out a prima facie case of obviousness. If that burden is met, the burden of going forward then shifts to Appellants to overcome the prima facie case with argument and/or evidence. Obviousness is then determined on the basis of the evidence as a whole and the relative persuasiveness of the arguments. See In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992); In re Hedges, 783 F.2d 1038, 1039, 228 USPQ 685, 686 (Fed. Cir. 1986); In re Piasecki, 745 F.2d 1468, 1472, 223 USPQ 785, 788 (Fed. Cir. 1984); and In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189 USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA 1976). With respect to representative independent claim 14, the Examiner, as the basis for the obviousness rejection, proposes to modify the wallet emulation system disclosure of Williams. 4Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007