Appeal No. 2003-1192 Page 4
Application No. 09/660,888
OPINION
Obviousness
Just as in Appeal No. 2003-1191, all the claims herein require the absence of sidewalls in
the insulative housing. The Examiner acknowledges that neither of the primary references, Wu
or Futatsugi, describe an insulative housing without sidewalls. We note that Futatsugi, like Wu,
is directed to a shielded connector. Just as in the other appeal, the Examiner relies upon a
finding that “Wang discloses a connector housing (20) not having any sidewall members to
reduce the manufacture cost” and concludes that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art at the time of the invention to form a housing without sidewalls as taught by Wang
to reduce the manufacturing cost (Answer, p. 6 and p. 7). We conclude that the Examiner has
failed to meet his burden in establishing a prima facie case of obviousness for the reasons we
discussed in the opinion in Appeal No. 2003-1191.
A discussion of the other applied references is not required as they were not relied upon
in a matter that cures the deficiencies of the rejections. We conclude that the Examiner has
failed to establish a prima facie case of obviousness with respect to the subject matter of claims
1-11 and 13-21.
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