Appeal No. 1997-0659
Application No. 08/318,462
at pages 4 through 27 of the reference, foam simply is not
passed through a static soil porous medium as required by the
process of the claimed invention. As appellant further points
out, nowhere in the Gannon reference is the process of a foam-
based fluid passing through a static soil either taught or
suggested. The mere happenstance that the words “foam” and
“soil” appear in the same title is not sufficient, as
appellant argues, to describe the herein claimed process.
As the examiner correctly observes, the Gannon reference
does disclose a chapter entitled “Soil Clean-Up By In-Situ
Surfactant Flushing” which appears at pages 94 through 129 of
the complete reference. However, again, as appellant
emphasizes, this section of the Gannon reference does not
disclose the removal of pollutants from a static soil matrix
with a foam-based fluid. As appellant correctly points out at
page 5 of his reply brief, the surfactant applications
discussed in this chapter of the Gannon reference relate to
the placement of surfactant into a water fluid and passing a
water solution through the soil. Again, in this section of
the Gannon reference, there is no teaching or suggestion to
use surfactants to make a foam which is then passed through a
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