Appeal No. 2006-0594
Application No. 09/740,708
are evidence of nonobviousness. In re Skoner, 517 F.2d 947, 950,
186 USPQ 80, 82 (CCPA 1975).
We are also not persuaded by appellants' argument that
improper hindsight is necessary for the examiner to choose
yttrium from the elements disclosed by Nazmy. As pointed out by
the examiner, "Nazmy teaches strong motivation to select Y from
the markush group named in the abstract - namely, Nazmy teaches
that adding Y has the strongest effect on increasing hardness and
strength (column 14[,] lines 25-28)" (page 12 of Answer, second
paragraph).
Turning to the rejection of claims 16-20 under § 103 over
WO '973 in view of Nazmy and Choudhury, appellants have not
rebutted the examiner's factual determination that WO '973
teaches heating the Ti-Al alloy to a temperature of greater than
800°F in an air atmosphere to form an in-situ oxide film, which
renders the alloy non-reactive with molten aluminum (see page 6
of Answer, lines 13-15) and greatly increases the service life
(see page 7 of Answer, first paragraph). Also, we totally agree
with the examiner that Choudhury evidences the obviousness of
inspecting and cleaning the surfaces of mold cavities when they
are open. The examiner properly sites Choudhury at column 7,
lines 3-4.
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