Appeal No. 2006-2826 Page 8
Application No. 09/993,907
swells in an aqueous environment to become a hydrogel. Whitbourne, column 1, lines
15-22, and 58-61; column 3, lines 52-63. In preferred embodiments, the polymer
contains cross-linking. Id., column 4, lines 59-63. The device, substrate, and cross-
linked polymer disclosed by Whitbourne were stated by the Examiner to meet the
structural elements of claim 1. Answer, page 3. The Examiner found that, since the
structural limitations were met, Whitbourne’s coated device would reasonably be
presumed to also possess the claimed properties that Appellants rely on for
patentability. Id. We see no error in the Examiner’s reasoning. Since Appellants have
not rebutted this presumption by proving Whitbourne does not possess these
properties, for the reasons discussed above, we affirm the rejection.
Weissleder
Claims 1, 3-5, 10, 11, 15-22, 28-31, and 35 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §
102(b) as anticipated by Weissleder.4
The Weissleder patent describes hydrogels for MRI imaging. Weissleder,
column 3, lines 28-35. Also disclosed is the following method:
a method for providing an image of an interventional device in an internal
region of a patient in real time by coating the device with a labeled
hydrogel, using the device in an internal region in the patient, and
scanning the patient using an imaging technique that can detect the label
to obtain an image of the device. The invention also covers interventional
devices coated with a labeled hydrogel.
Id., column 5, lines 24-31
The hydrogels can be loaded with labels for MRI imaging, such as gadolinium
containing compounds. Id., column 4, lines 1-8.
4 Weissleder et al. (Weissleder), U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,379, issued May 7, 1996.
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