Ex Parte SIMON et al - Page 4




          Appeal No. 1997-2063                                                        
          Application No. 08/433,818                                                  


          materials disclosed in the present specification.  However, as              
          properly argued by appellants, unpredictability is but one of               
          eight factors to be considered in determining the enabling                  
          qualities of a specification.  Another criteria to be considered            
          is whether the specification provides sufficient guidance for one           
          of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention within the           
          scope of the claims without undue experimentation.  On this                 
          point, appellants have submitted into evidence a Declaration by             
          Dr. Stuart A. Wolf, an expert in the field of superconductive               
          materials.  In relevant part, the Declaration provides expert               
          testimony that "only about 2-3 man days of experimentation" would           
          be required of one of ordinary skill in the art to determine                
          which superconductive materials would be suitable for use in the            
          present invention (see page 4 of Declaration).  Dr. Wolf bases              
          this testimony on the fact that appellants' specification teaches           
          that suitable superconductive materials "have a structure,                  
          lattice constants, and coefficient of thermal expansion that                
          closely match those of LaAlO3 and are chemically compatible with            
          LaAlO3" (page 4 of Declaration).  While the examiner is not                 
          persuaded by the Declaration because, according to the examiner,            
          the Declaration is only relevant to specific superconductive                
          materials, Dr. Wolf states that appellants' specification "also             
          teaches how to select other perovskite superconductors suitable             
          for deposition, without undue or extensive experimentation"                 

                                         -4-                                          




Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007