Appeal No. 96-0769
Application No. 08/203,386
remaining in the application. The appealed claims are
reproduced below:
2. N,N-diethylaminoethyl 2,4-dichlorobenzyl ether.
3. N,N-diethylaminoethyl 3,4-dichlorobenzyl ether.
4. N,N-diethylaminoethyl 4-methylbenzyl ether.
The sole reference relied upon by the examiner is:
United Kingdom Patent 1,239,567(UK’567) July 21, 1971
The appealed claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as unpatentable over UK’567. We affirm as to claim 4. We
reverse as to claims 2 and 3.
The subject matter on appeal is directed to the three
named benzyl substituted triethylamine ether compounds above
which appellants have discovered function as plant
bioregulators and thus enhance plant growth when applied in
bioregulatory amounts to plants (e.g., citrus crops). See the
specification at page 2, lines 22-30.
As evidence of obviousness of the claimed compounds, the
examiner relies on UK'567 which discloses a class of ether
compounds which are useful for the treatment of cardiovascular
conditions. Notwithstanding appellants’ contrary arguments,
the examiner correctly determined that the fourth compound
2
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