Appeal No. 96-1852
Application No. 08/016,931
that it is a matter of prima facie obviousness for the skilled
artisan to ascertain the optimum conditions of pH and the
like. In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 1578, 16 USPQ2d 1934,
1936 (Fed. Cir. 1990).
In conclusion, based on the foregoing, the examiner's
decision rejecting appealed claims 1-13 and 15-22 is reversed.
A new ground of rejection under 37 CFR § 1.196(b) has been
entered for claims 13 and 15-22.
This decision contains a new ground of rejection pursuant
to 37 CFR § 1.196(b) (amended effective Dec. 1, 1997, by final
rule notice, 62 Fed. Reg. 53,131, 53,197 (Oct. 10, 1997), 1203
Off. Gaz. Pat. & Trademark Office 63, 122 (Oct. 21, 1997)).
37 CFR § 1.196(b) provides, "[a] new ground of rejection shall
not be considered final for purposes of judicial review."
37 CFR § 1.196(b) also provides that the appellants,
WITHIN TWO MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE DECISION, must exercise
one of the following two options with respect to the new
ground of rejection to avoid termination of proceedings (37
CFR § 1.197(c) as to the rejected claims:
(1) Submit an appropriate amendment of the
claims so rejected or a showing of facts relating to
the claims so rejected, or both, and have the matter
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