Appeal No. 95-0678
Application 07/938,960
lines 13-15 and page 3, lines 15-16). After coating, the lint is
adhered close to the seed coat and the cottonseed is flowable
(specification, page 6, lines 15-20).
In Ex parte Grayson, 51 USPQ 413, 414 (Bd. App. 1941), a
beheaded, deveined shrimp was held to be a product of nature
because “the part he is claiming is still in its natural state
which has been changed in no manner.” In the present case, in
contrast, the cottonseed is not in its natural state, but has
a different property due to the coating as discussed above.
The facts of the present case are more like those of
Ex parte Mowry, 110 USPQ 389, 390 (Bd. App. 1955) and Ex parte
Shepherd, 185 USPQ 480, 483 (Bd. App. 1974).
In Mowry, the claimed article was a soil coated with a film
of a specified water-soluble polymer. The Board stated (Mowry
110 USPQ at 390):
The claims are easily distinguished from the
American Fruit Growers, Inc. v. Brogdex Co.
case in that here the polymer is adsorbed by
electrolytic phenomena on the soil particles
and the individual soil particles are
chemically bound to form an erosion resistant
but water pervious layer on the surface of
the soil. Such soil is quite distinct from
untreated soil.
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