Appeal 2007-3575
Application 10/233,698
assertion that collagen is considered to be a bioactive agent, or that a
bioactive agent as set forth by the Specification encompasses all agents that
have wound healing properties (Br. at 9-10).3
The Specification defines “‘bioactive agent,’ as used in connection
with the present invention, to include pharmacologically active ingredients,
such as drugs, antibiotic agents, antimicrobial agents, etc.” (Specification,
page 3.) The use of “includes” in the definition means that the bioactive
agent is not limited to “pharmacologically active ingredients, such as drugs,
antibiotic agents, antimicrobial agents, etc.,” but that those are just examples
of bioactive agents that may be used in the invention. Thus, the definition of
“bioactive” given by the Specification, is not limiting, but merely provides
examples of bioactive agents that may be used in the medical dressings of
the invention.
Moreover, bioactive is defied by the American Heritage Dictionary
(online) as relating to a substance that has an effect on living tissue.4
Collagen is a substance that has an effect on living tissue in that it aids in the
wound healing, and thus reads on a bioactive agent as required by claims 66,
72, and 73.
3 Appellants also argued at page 10 of the Brief that “the Examiner
acknowledges the non-obviousness of claim 82 in view of the cited
references.” The Examiner responds that claim 82 was unintentionally not
listed in the argument, but that its limitations were addressed (Answer 10),
which Appellants acknowledge (R.Br. 9).
4 bioactive. Dictionary.com. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the
English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bioactive (accessed: August 07,
2007).
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