Appeal No. 2005-2013 Page 6
Application No. 10/140,324
Contrary to the assertion by the Examiner, the combination of Hills et al. and
Murakami et al. do not teach, show, or suggest a restrictive section, as recited in claims
1, 7 and 17. As stated by Appellants, Brief pages 5-6:
the holes 21a and 21b in Murakami et al are totally separated from the
nozzle 29, not part of the nozzle 29 having a straight passage 28 and a
diffuser 27. The gas inlet passages 21a and 21b of Murakami et al. feed
into a gas mixing chamber 26, from which the mixed gases feed into a
straight passage 28 and then through a diffuser 27 into the reaction
chamber 3. The diffusion of the gases is not restrained in any way. There
is no face plate or focus ring after the gas mixing chamber in the gas
injector lid 5; instead the gas is freely flow into contact with the walls of the
reaction chamber 3. Thus, the combination of Hills et al. and Murakami et
al. fails to suggest a face plate having a plurality of holes formed
therethrough, each hole including a restrictive section, a center passage
section, and an opening section.
We further agree with Appellants that “there is no annular body in Murakami et al.
and Murakami et al. does not teach, show, or suggest a mounting flange coupled to a
second end of an annular body. Thus, there is no suggestion or motivation in the
references to include an annular body having a first end coupled to a first side of the
face plate and a mounting flange coupled to a second end of the annular body,” as
required by the independent claims. (Brief, p. 6). As such, we do not agree with the
Examiner's obviousness position as outlined in the Final Rejection. The speculative
position asserted by the Examiner is merely an unsupported opinion of the Examiner
and such is not enough to establish the obviousness of the claimed subject matter
within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 103. Rather, as our reviewing court has made clear,
the Examiner must identify a particularized suggestion, reason or motivation to combine
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007