Appeal No. 2004-0194
Application No. 09/571,606
whereas the second plurality of apertures facilitates bending of
the expansion plate and provides improved air flow.
Appealed claim 16 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Mukai in view of Kubota.
We have thoroughly reviewed the respective positions
advanced by appellants and the examiner. As a result, we concur
with appellants that the examiner has failed to establish a prima
facie case of obviousness for the claimed subject matter.
Accordingly, we will not sustain the examiner's rejection.
There is no dispute that neither Mukai nor Kubota discloses
a folding cylinder of a rotary blade folder comprising the
presently claimed grid-shaped expansion plate comprising a first
and second plurality of apertures. While the examiner relies on
Kubota for disclosing a first and second plurality of apertures
spaced axially next to each other, appellants properly note that
"[t]he bands of Kubota are not a 'plate having a plurality of
apertures' but rather are individually adjustable pairs of bands
having a single aperture" (page 4 of principal brief, first
paragraph). In response, the examiner concludes that:
[I]t would have been obvious to one having ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made to
have modified Kubota's folding apparatus by having an
expansion plate with a first plurality of apertures
spaced axially next to each other, since it has been
held that forming in one piece an article which has
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