Appeal 2007-4100
Application 09/962,971
the claims on appeal “read on” something disclosed in the reference. See
Kalman v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 713 F.2d 760, 772, 218 USPQ 781, 789
(Fed. Cir. 1983).
Here, the Appellants have not challenged the Examiner’s finding at
page 3 of the Answer2 that:
Klabunde discloses a unit suitable for the flow through of a gas
or liquid (see col. 3, lines 19-25), which unit is at least partially
filled with an adsorbent in pellet form (col. 2, line 17)…. This
reference further teaches that the pellets can consist essentially
of a mixture (col. 2, line 21) of oxides or hydroxides of metals
such as magnesium, titanium, iron or aluminum, with metal
oxides being preferred, and magnesium oxide being most
preferred (see col. 2, lines 22-24); and one skilled in the fluid
purification art would, on reading the Klabunde et al. patent, at
once envisage a mixture of iron oxide with aluminum,
magnesium or titanium oxide as the pellet material. Compare
Answer 3 with Br. 9-11.
The Appellants only argue (Br. 9) that:
Klabunde fails to disclose [its] agglomerated particles prepared
from an aqueous suspension and fails to describe a method for
preparing [its] agglomerated particles of [iron oxide,] iron
hydroxide and/or iron oxyhydroxide without a powder
compacting step.3
2 The Appellants have not supplied any substantive arguments for the
separate patentability of any specific claims. See Br. in its entirety.
Therefore, for purposes of this appeal, we focus our discussion on
independent claim 1 alone pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(vii)(2004).
3 Contrary to the Appellants’ argument, the term “consisting essentially of”
recited in claim 1 does not preclude mechanically shaping (e.g., pressing or
compacting) wet powder from an aqueous suspension as is apparent from
page 7 of the Appellants’ Specification. See In re Herz, 537 F.2d 549, 551-
52, 190 USPQ 461, 463 (CCPA 1976); In re Lajarte, 337 F.2d 870, 873-74,
143 USPQ 256, 258 (CCPA 1964).
4
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