Appeal No. 1997-0159
Application 08/172,579
including organic materials, and Nagel is concerned with prior art problems relating to the
disposal of such waste wherein reactors release gases which must be either contained
or destroyed. See Nagel at column 1, lines 38 through 42. Thus, the basic thrust of the Nagel
invention is to provide a process to convert waste materials into atomic constituents and to
form relatively stable compounds for disposal purposes. See Nagel at column 3, lines 1
through 8 and lines 37 through 42. Accordingly, while it might have been obvious to a person
of ordinary skill in this art to “optimize the Nagel reaction conditions” so as to “maximize the
desired effluent by routine experimentation,” as alleged by the examiner, Nagel's “desired
effluent” is not a shorter-chain unsaturated organic compound as required by the appealed
reforming method, but a stable compound which can be disposed of. Moreover, because
Nagel is not directed to a reforming process, Nagel necessarily fails to disclose the
establishment and maintenance of reaction conditions to produce unsaturated organic
compounds as required by step c) of appellants' claimed method. Accordingly, the examiner's
stated obviousness rejection cannot be sustained.
The decision of the examiner is reversed.
John D. Smith )
Administrative Patent Judge )
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)
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Terry J. Owens ) BOARD OF PATENT
Administrative Patent Judge ) APPEALS AND
) INTERFERENCES
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