Ex parte BECKNER et al. - Page 9




              Appeal No. 1997-2372                                                                                         
              Application 08/083,945                                                                                       



                     claim.  See, e.g., In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 1050-52, 29 USPQ2d                                    
                     2010, 2013-15 (Fed. Cir. 1993); Amgen, Inc. v. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co.,                             
                     927 F.2d. 1200, 1212-14, 18 USPQ2d 1016, 1026-28 (Fed. Cir.), cert.                                   
                     denied, 502 U.S. 856 (1991); In re Vaeck, 947 F.2d at 496, 20 USPQ2d at                               
                     1445.  Enablement is lacking in those cases, the court has explained,                                 
                     because the undescribed embodiments cannot be made, based on the                                      
                     disclosure in the specification, without undue experimentation.  But the                              
                     question of undue experimentation is a matter of degree.  The fact that some                          
                     experimentation is necessary does not preclude enablement; what is                                    
                     required is that the amount of experimentation “must not be unduly                                    
                     extensive.”  Atlas Powder Co., v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., 750 F.2d                              
                     1569, 1576, 224 USPQ 409, 413 (Fed. Cir. 1984).  The Patent and                                       
                     Trademark Office Board of Appeals summarized the point well when it                                   
                     stated:                                                                                               
                            The test is not merely quantitative, since a considerable                                      
                            amount of experimentation is permissible, if it is merely                                      
                            routine, or if the specification in question provides a                                        
                            reasonable amount of guidance with respect to the direction in                                 
                            which the experimentation should proceed to enable the                                         
                            determination of how to practice a desired embodiment of the                                   
                            invention claimed.                                                                             
                     Ex parte Jackson, 217 USPQ 804, 807 (1982).                                                           

              In the case before us having broad claim scope, the examiner has put forth facts which                       
              establish a prima facie case of non-enablement, and which provide a reasonable                               
              explanation as to why the scope of protection provided by claims 6, 10 and 35 is not                         
              adequately enabled by the disclosure.                                                                        
                     The examiner also argues that  the specification does not enable a method of                          
              purifying heparin by binding to AAMP without undue experimentation and lacks                                 

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