Appeal No. 1996-3797
Application No. 08/070,162
Claims 6 and 8 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103. As evidence of
obviousness, the examiner relies upon Suter, Sambrook, Takai, and Rothman.
Claims 1-3, 5, 6, and 8 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103. As evidence of
obviousness, the examiner relies upon Suter, Mills, and Rothman.
Claims 6 and 8 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103. As evidence of
obviousness, the examiner relies upon Suter, Mills, Rothman, Sambrook and Hall.
We reverse.
Background
The applicants describe the presently claimed invention at pages 5-6 of the
specification as relating to human cell lines cloned from a cell which have been stably
transformed by a recombinant vector comprising a reporter gene operatively linked to a
promoter comprising a human IL-4-responsive element. The stable transformed cell line is
stated to be useful in detecting human IL-4 agonists and antagonists. Applicants explain
that contacting the cell line with a sample containing an IL-4 agonist or an antagonist in the
presence of IL-4 results in expression or reduced expression of the reporter gene.
Discussion
The rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to the
appellants' specification and claims and to the respective positions articulated by the
appellants and the examiner. We make reference to the examiner's answer (Paper No.
3
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