Appeal No. 1997-0221
Application 08/248,496
cattle (id.). The examiner also applies Vit-A-Way to show
that sodium bicarbonate is known as a component of mineral
range elements (Answer at page 6). The examiner concludes
that it would have been obvious to add sodium bicarbonate and
sodium sesquicarbonate to well known feed supplements such as
those disclosed by ACCO or Moorman “in order to increase milk
production, as taught by Hogan.” (id.). The examiner further
concludes that
[a]s to the particular amounts, it would have been
within the purview of the ordinary artisan to
determine optimal amounts through routine
experimentation. Where the general conditions of a
claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not
inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges
by routine experimentation. In re Aller, 105 USPQ
233 (CCPA 1955). Id.
The examiner relies on the rule that discovery of an
optimum value of a result effective variable in a known
process is ordinarily within the skill of the art. See In re
Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 276, 205 USPQ 215, 219 (CCPA 1980); In
re Antonie, 559 F.2d 618, 620, 195 USPQ 6, 8-9 (CCPA 1977);
and In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA
1955). However, there are exceptions to this rule, one of
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