Appeal No. 1997-4145
Application No. 08/361,328
interkilobase pair distance of an unfolded, i.e., linear, DNA is 0.34 :m, does claim 40
recite an "extended DNA" or only a partially extended DNA.
Secondly, an article by Washizu et al., "Electrostatic Manipulation of DNA in
Microfabricated Structures, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 26, No. 6,
November/December 1990, was found in the file. It does not appear to have been
made of record by either the examiner or appellant. However, in the event of further
prosecution, both appellant and the examiner should review this article and determine
its relevance to the claimed invention. Please note that Washizu describes stretched
molecules of 8 DNA having 48.5 kb and measured to be about 17 :m at p. 1168.
CONCLUSION
To summarize, the decision of the examiner (I) to reject claims 33-40 under
35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, is affirmed, (II) to reject claims 1, 2, 4, 5 and 10 under
35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as clearly anticipated by Matsumoto is reversed, (III) to reject claims
1-5 and 10 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Matsumoto in view of Kanda is
reversed, and (IV) to reject claims 26-29 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over
Matsumoto in view of Lehninger is reversed.
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