Appeal No. 2004-0551 Page 19
Application No. 09/393,256
In the rejection of claim 32 under appeal, the examiner (answer, p. 5) stated that
threaded electrical connectors are well known in the art and concluded that it would
have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the
invention to have replaced Weiland's electrical plugs 21 and 26 with a threaded
connection.
The appellant argues (brief, p. 14) that there is no reason to replace Weiland's
electrical plugs 21 and 26 with a threaded connection. We agree. The examiner has
once again not provided any evidence providing the necessary suggestion or motivation
for a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have
replaced Weiland's electrical plug 21 with a threaded connector let alone a threaded
connector for connection to a source of ultrasonic mechanical vibrations. Accordingly,
the examiner has not set forth a case of obviousness.
For the reasons set forth above, the decision of the examiner to reject claim 32,
and claim 33 dependent thereon, under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Weiland is reversed.
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