Ex Parte Frank - Page 3




               Appeal No. 2005-2198                                                                      Παγε 3                 
               Application No. 10/286,942                                                                                       



               rejection and the answer (mailed August 23, 2004) for the examiner's complete                                    
               reasoning in support of the rejections, and to the brief (filed June 25, 2004), reply brief                      
               (filed September 29, 2004) and replacement brief for the appellant's arguments                                   
               thereagainst.                                                                                                    


                                                          OPINION                                                               
                      In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to                           
               the appellant's specification and claims, to the applied prior art references, and to the                        
               respective positions articulated by the appellant and the examiner.  Upon evaluation of                          
               all the evidence before us, it is our conclusion that the evidence adduced by the                                
               examiner is insufficient to establish a prima facie case of obviousness with respect to                          
               the claims under appeal.  Accordingly, we will not sustain the examiner's rejection of                           
               claims 1 to 4, 8 to 15 and 19 to 22 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.  Our reasoning for this                               
               determination follows.                                                                                           


                      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).  A prima facie case of obviousness is                               
               established by presenting evidence that would have led one of ordinary skill in the art to                       
               combine the relevant teachings of the references to arrive at the claimed invention.  See                        







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