Appeal No. 1997-0003
Application No. 08/342,614
read of, nor observed, “any positive effect of Dead Sea water or salt on acne or seborrheic
dermatitis.” Declaration, attached to Paper No. 9. We do not find this argument and the
declaration to be persuasive.
First, Dr. Peter’s statements with respect to Dead Sea water is of no moment. The
rejection is over the use of the compositions disclosed by Biener to treat acne, not the use
of Dead Sea water. To that end, we point out that Biener (i) discloses the use of a
composition which comprises a salt mixture, a therapeutic agent, and water, and (ii)
expressly states that “[t]he invention’s salt mixture has a correspondingly positive effects
[sic, effect] with acne.” Biener col. 3, lines 28-29. Second, we find that Dr. Peter’s
statements are inconsistent with the specification which, as noted above, states that
spontaneous healings of acne have been observed using Dead Sea water. Specification,
p. 3, para. 2.
The appellant argues that it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art “to modify the Biener composition to include sodium chloride at a level of at least
50% by weight, or least 67% by weight as required by claims 25 and 37.” The appellant
points to the Amendment After Final (Paper No. 6) wherein it is allegeldly state that “Dead
Sea water and dried salts contain significantly less than 50 weight % of sodium chloride.”
Brief, p. 5.
We addressed the issue of the claimed levels of at least 50% by weight, and at
least 67% by weight, sodium chloride, above. Therefore, we comment only briefly on the
9
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007