Appeal No. 95-3754
Application 08/138,780
OPINION
We have carefully considered all of the arguments advanced by appellants and
the examiner and agree with appellants that the aforementioned rejection is not well
founded. Accordingly, this rejection will be reversed.
Stemmler discloses a process for making low molecular weight polyalcohols by
catalytic hydrogenation of what Stemmler calls “formose”, which is a mixture of various
low molecular weight hydroxyaldehydes, hydroxyketones and possibly multivalent
alcohols, which result from the self condensation of formaldehyde (page 2). The
formose can be mixed with sugars, aldehydes, ketones, alkanals or alcohols (pages 11-
12). The hydrogenation catalyst preferably is ruthenium (page 10), and can be mixed
with a co-catalyst which can be, inter alia, platinum (page 14). The catalyst carrier can
be either inorganic or organic, and the listed carriers include aluminum oxide (page
15).
The examiner argues that appellants’ starting materials and those of Stemmler
are analogous and that both processes produce the same kinds of products (answer,
pages 3-4). Thus, the examiner argues, in reliance upon In re Durden, 763 F.2d 1406,
226 USPQ 359 (Fed. Cir. 1985), appellants’ claimed process would have been obvious
to one of ordinary skill in the art over Stemmler (answer, pages 3-4).
The examiner reached his conclusion of obviousness of appellants’ claimed
invention based on a per se rule that use of a new starting material in a prior art
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