Ex Parte Chen et al - Page 8



                Appeal 2007-1262                                                                              
                Application 10/697,532                                                                        

                invention can use “[a]ny conventional bottom balance layer” (Specification                    
                8, l. 7; emphasis added).                                                                     
                      For the reasons set forth above and in the Answer, the record before                    
                us evinces a prima facie case of obviousness for the argued claims on appeal                  
                which has not been successfully rebutted by the Appellants.  In re Oetiker,                   
                977 F.2d 1443, 1445,  24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992).  We hereby                       
                sustain, therefore, the § 103 rejection of claims 1-39 as being unpatentable                  
                over Hansson in view of Casto.                                                                
                            The Obviousness-Type Double Patenting Rejections                                  
                      It is undisputed that each of Chen ‘009, Chen ‘460, and Chen ‘934                       
                claims a thermoplastic plank comprising a core, a printed layer or design,                    
                and a protective layer or coating, wherein an underlay layer may be located                   
                between the print layer and core.  As fully explained above and in the                        
                Answer, the combined teachings of Hansson and Casto would have                                
                suggested the Appellants’ claimed method for making products of the type                      
                defined by appealed claim 1.  Analogously, these prior art references would                   
                have suggested using such a method in order to make products of the type                      
                defined by the claims of the aforementioned Chen patents.  Accordingly, it                    
                would have been obvious for an artisan to manufacture the products claimed                    
                in these Chen patents with the method resulting from the previously                           
                discussed combination of Hansson and Casto, thereby resulting in the                          
                product and method defined by the appealed claims.                                            


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