Appeal No. 98-1858
Application 08/678,196
tient’s dysfunctional aortic, mitral, tricuspid, or pulmonary
valve. As urged by appellant, the examiner’s position is
clearly based on an improper “obvious to try” approach which
attempts to combine the generally unrelated teachings of Ross
and Cumming to
arrive at the posited obviousness determination under 35
U.S.C.
§ 103. In regard to the examiner’s rejection, we generally
agree
with appellant’s arguments as set forth on pages 9 through 18
of the brief.
With respect to independent claim 18, we find noth-
ing in Ross or Cumming which would have been suggestive of a
“fixed, marine mammal ventricular outflow valve.” However, it
appears to us that a complete marine mammal heart which has
been preserved in a fixative agent, such as glutaraldehyde,
would include a
“fixed, marine mammal ventricular outflow valve.” In this
regard, it is incomprehensible to us that at the time of
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