Appeal No. 2006-2781
Application 10/254,671
Accordingly, in the absence of any persuasive argument or evidence
to overcome the Examiner’s prima facie showing of obviousness, we affirm
the rejection of claims 1, 7, 11, and 17 as unpatentable over Fujita.
Claims 1, 5-8, 11, and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Kawano
The Examiner found that Kawano discloses a steel alloy having a
composition with constituents whose wt % ranges overlap those recited by
the claims. Answer 3 (citing Kawano, claim 7). The Examiner further
found that Kawano discloses a steel alloy containing M7C3 carbides and
M23C6 produced by heating, forging, normalizing and tempering. Answer 3
(citing Kawano, columns 13 and 14). The Examiner notes that Kawano
teaches normalizing by heating steel from 900 to 1100˚C, which is within
the temperature range of 970 to 1020˚C recited by claim 11, and 1020 to
1050˚C recited by claim 15, followed by cooling at 5˚C/sec or below, which
is within the cooling range of 100˚C/hour or more (equivalent to about
1.6˚C/sec) recited in claims 17 and 18. Answer 4 (citing Kawano, col. 15, ll.
1-15).
Appellants argue that:
A prima facie case of obviousness has not been
established, at least because Kawano does not teach or suggest
each and every element of independent claims 1, 5, 7, 8, 11, and
15, because Kawano teaches away from the claimed invention
in independent claims 1, 5, 7, 8, 11, and 15, and because the
requisite motivation to modify Kawano is lacking. Reply 6.
More specifically, Appellants argue that Kawano’s “preferred” C and V
contents are different from Appellants’ claimed ranges, Br. 20-21, and that
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007