Appeal No. 93-2757
Application 07/908,856
We shall not pass on the question whether the invention
defined in claim 14 would have been prima facie obvious over
GB 2 170 404 A. Rather, for the purposes of this appeal, we
shall assume arguendo that GB 2 170 404 A establishes a case
of prima facie obviousness of this claim. The Carle
Declaration, however, rebuts any such prima facie case.
In the Carle Declaration, executed May 20, 1992, the
declarant conducted side-by-side tests comparing the aqueous
distillation of fresh and dried camomile flowers. Both
distillations were carried out “exactly as in Example 7 of
British patent 2 170 404.” As reported in the declaration,
the aqueous distillation of fresh flowers provided a
significantly enhanced yield of (-)-"-bisabolol, chamazulene,
cis-spiroether and trans-spiroether.
The examiner does not critique the Carle Declaration in
any manner whatsoever, e.g., by arguing that the tests therein
are not truly comparative or that the results achieved are
merely expected or that the enhanced yields of (-)-"-
bisabolol, chamazulene, cis-spiroether and trans-spiroether
are insignificant. On the contrary, with respect to the
declaration evidence, the examiner is silent. This
-8-
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007