Appeal No. 95-2444
Application 07/973,655
disclosed and claimed in U.S. Patent
Application No. 07/973,655 prior to the
filing date of U.S. Patent No. 5,147,793.
The declaration was signed by the three patentees of the '793
patent, Mark A. Johnson, Alexander R. Pokora and William L.
Cyrus, Jr.3
The examiner maintains that the declaration fails to remove
the '793 patent as prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a) and (e) for
the reason that (Answer, p.5):
[T]he claims of CYRUS, JR. ET AL call for the
""biocatalytic oxidation of an oxidizable
substrate". The claims are not limited to
the polymerization reactions of the Examples.
When CYRUS JR. ET AL is read in view of its
specification the claimed "biocatalytic
oxidation" would include the disclosed
"bleaching", and the claimed "oxidizable
substrate" would include the disclosed "kraft
pulp". Thus the claims of CYRUS JR. ET AL
would include bleaching of Kraft pulp which
includes the delignification (Kraft bleaching
and/or delignifying) of lignocellulosic
material (pulp), see the instant
specification, page 3, lines 18-22. Thus the
claimed subject matter of the instant
Application, was disclosed and claimed in
Patent No. 5,147,793.
We note at the outset that the declarants expressly state
3 Three copies of this declaration were received, one signed by Mark A.
Johnson dated December 9, 1993, one signed by William L. Cyrus, Jr. dated
December 13, 1993, and one signed by Alexander R. Pokora dated December 28, 1993.
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