Appeal No. 2005-0931
Application 10/006,679
0.12 α y α 0.20) on a substrate by a physical deposition method while controlling a temperature
of the front side of said substrate within a range of ± 2°C.
The reference relied on by the examiner is:
Araki et al. (Araki) 5,676,998 Oct. 14, 1997
The examiner has rejected appealed claims 1 and 2 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as
anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being obvious over Araki
(answer, pages 3-4).
Appellants state that the appealed claims “stand or fall together” (brief, page 3). Thus,
we decide this appeal based on appealed claim 1. 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7) (2003); see also 37 CFR
§ 41.37(c)(1)(vii) (effective September 13, 2004; 69 Fed. Reg. 49960 (August 12, 2004);
1286 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 21 (September 7, 2004)).
We affirm.
Rather than reiterate the respective positions advanced by the examiner and appellants,
we refer to the answer and to the brief for a complete exposition thereof.
Opinion
We have carefully reviewed the record on this appeal and based thereon find ourselves in
agreement with the supported finding advanced by the examiner that as a matter of fact, prima
facie, appealed claim 1 is anticipated by or is obvious over Araki. We add the following to the
examiner’s analysis for emphasis.
It is apparent from the plain language of claim 1 taken in light of the specification,
including the drawings, as it would be interpreted by one of ordinary skill in this art, see In re
Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054-55, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re Zletz, 893 F.2d
319, 321-22, 13 USPQ2d 1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989), that the same is couched in product-by-
process format wherein the product is claimed in terms of the characteristics imparted by the
stated process by which it is made, thus encompassing a product having such imparted
characteristics even if prepared by a different process. See generally, In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d
695, 697, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985). Thus, the claimed RxM1-x-yBy thin film magnet
encompassed by claim 1 has each Nd2Fe14B type crystalline phase isolated from another such
phase by any manner of amorphous phase, with the c-axis of the crystalline phase oriented in a
film-thickness direction, that is, oriented perpendicular to the film plane, and the film can be
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