Appeal No. 1997-2926
Application No. 08/376,299
Claims 1-3 and 5-15 are the only claims pending in this
application.
According to appellants, the invention is directed to a
method for treating an organic industrial waste to degrade the
waste by growing microorganisms on site in a disposable bag
supported in a containment unit (Brief, page 2). A copy of
illustrative claim 1 is attached as an Appendix to this
decision.
The examiner has relied upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
Stone 4,058,213 Nov. 15, 1977
Knowlton 4,385,121 May 24, 1983
Clarke et al. (Clarke) 4,415,085 Nov. 15, 1983
Graves et al. (Graves) 4,786,192 Nov. 22, 1988
Dyadechko et al. (Dyadechko) 4,822,490 Apr. 18, 1989
Hoffman 4,994,391 Feb. 19, 1991
Mogna et al. (Mogna) WO 90/02167 Mar. 8, 1990
(Published International Application)
Claims 1-3, 5 and 7-14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §
103 as unpatentable over Hoffman in view of Dyadechko, Stone,
Mogna, Clarke and Graves (Answer, page 4). Claims 6 and 15
stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over the
references applied against claims 1-3, 5 and 7-14 further in
2
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