Appeal No. 2006-1816
Application No. 10/386,146
Appellants’ diode D0 is the only blocking element for both the
first and the second elements, the claimed blocking elements read
on diode D7 of Graves (answer, pages 6-7).
As a general proposition, 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) and In re Fine,
837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988). A
prima facie case of obviousness is established when the teachings
of the prior art itself would appear to have suggested the
claimed subject matter to one of ordinary skill in the art. See
In re Bell, 991 F.2d 781, 783, 26 USPQ2d 1529, 1531 (Fed. Cir.
1993); In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1266 n.14, 23 USPQ2d 1780,
1783-84 n.14 (Fed. Cir. 1992); Uniroyal, Inc. v. Rudkin-Wiley
Corp., 837 F.2d 1044, 1051, 5 USPQ2d 1434, 1438 (Fed. Cir. 1988);
Ashland Oil, Inc. v. Delta Resins & Refractories, Inc., 776 F.2d
281, 293, 227 USPQ 657, 664 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
From our review of Ko and Graves, we remain unpersuaded by
Appellants’ arguments that any error in the Examiner’s
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