Appeal No. 1997-0158
Application No. 08/026,581
field of the inventors’ endeavor since the hydrocoupling
process described in Nozaki also involves hydrogenation as in
appellants’ and Gryaznov’s processes. See Nozuki, column 6,
lines 50-55. Even if Nozaki is not deemed to be within the
field of the inventors’ endeavor, we find that Nozaki is at
least directed toward the problem of providing, inter alia, a
reducing atmosphere (hydrogen atmosphere) which is required in
both appellants’ and Gryaznov’s processes. We find that
because Nozaki deals with providing a reducing (hydrogen)
reaction atmosphere, it would have logically commended itself
to the inventors’ attention. See In re Clay, 966 F.2d 656,
659, 23 USPQ2d 1058, 1061 (Fed. Cir. 1992). Accordingly, we
conclude that Nozaki can be properly combined with Gryaznov
for the reasons indicated supra.
In any event, we note that appellants have not
specifically challenged the examiner’s finding that “formic
acid is known to be a source of hydrogen” as indicated supra.
Thus, even without Nozaki, the use of formic acid in the
hydrogenation process of Gryaznov would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the art as indicated supra.
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