Appeal No. 2005-0983 Application 09/923,675 In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, the examiner bears the initial burden of presenting a prima facie case of obviousness. See In re Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531, 1532, 28 USPQ2d 1955, 1956 (Fed. Cir. 1993). To reach a conclusion of obviousness under § 103, the examiner must produce a factual basis supported by a teaching in a prior art reference or shown to be common knowledge of unquestionable demonstration. Our reviewing court requires this evidence in order to establish a prima facie case. In re Piasecki, 745 F.2d 1468, 1471-72, 223 USPQ 785, 787-88 (Fed. Cir. 1984). The examiner may satisfy his/her burden only by showing some objective teaching in the prior art or that knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art would lead the individual to combine the relevant teachings of the references. In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988). It is the examiner’s position that Holmes discloses a video poker game having a bonus award associated with the game, and a predetermined arrangement of cards established as a winning bonus award. The examiner contends that Holmes does not disclose noting the matched cards as they occur, or continuing to deal subsequent hands and allowing a player to play out each of the subsequent hands in order to continue trying to match cards with 4Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007