Appeal No. 2002-2142 Page 9
Application No. 09/276,858
With respect to claims 9-11, Appellants argue that Wukusick is silent with respect to
controlling carbon content in the manner required by claim 9. Claim 9 recites “providing said
nickel base superalloy with a C concentration controlled in accordance with the equation, % area
fraction scale = -0.193 x carbon content in ppm + 86 effective to substantially reduce formation
of said as-cast metallic scale when the superalloy is solidified as a single crystal casting.” Again,
“[a] person of ordinary skill in the art does not need to recognize that a method or structure
behaves according to a law of nature in order to fully and effectively practice the method or
structure.” EMI Group North America, 268 F.3d at 1351, 60 USPQ2d at 1429-30. The equation
recited in the claim represents what happens to the % area fraction scale in accordance with the
laws of nature as the carbon concentration varies. This law of nature is followed whether or not
one practicing the process of providing carbon in a nickel base superalloy knows it or not.
Wukusick provides carbon in an amount effective to substantially reduce formation of as-cast
metallic scale as required by the claim. The carbon concentration is necessarily controlled in
accordance with the equation.1
We find that claims 1-4, 9-11, 17, and 18 are anticipated by Wukusick because there is
reason to believe that the reduced scale and grain recrystallization properties required by the
claims would be obtained when practicing the preferred and most preferred embodiments of
1Should prosecution continue, the Examiner should consider whether claim 9 is sufficiently definite in
accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112, ¶ 2. The scope of carbon concentrations encompassed is somewhat unclear as the
equation is only valid for carbon concentrations between 0 and 450 ppm (see Fig. 2), but the language “effective to
substantially reduce formation of said as-cast metallic scale” relates to concentrations of about 0.04 wt. % (400 ppm)
and above, including concentrations above 450 ppm (specification at 10, ll. 19-23). It is thus not entirely clear what
concentrations are encompassed by the claim.
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