Ex parte KAMBOJ et al.; Ex parte FOLDES et al. - Page 90


                       Appeal No.  1997-3221                                                                                                                     
                       Application No.  08/249,241                                                                                                               
                       The rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103                                                                                                      
                                 The examiner reasons (Answer67, page 4) that:                                                                                   

                                          The McNamara et al. publication, taken alone, clearly placed                                                           
                                 an isolated cDNA encoding a human GluR4 protein in the hands of an                                                              
                                 artisan of ordinary skill at the time of the instant invention.  The                                                            
                                 isolation of that cDNA only requires an artisan to screen a cDNA                                                                
                                 library produced from human brain mRNA with a nucleic acid probe                                                                
                                 encoding rat GluR4 in the same manner that McNamara et al.                                                                      
                                 employed to screen the human genomic library described therein.                                                                 
                                 In the bridging paragraph of pages 4-5 of the Answer, the examiner states:                                                      
                                 To have incorporated that cDNA into an expression vector and host                                                               
                                 cell to obtain the expression and quantitative production of human                                                              
                                 GluR4 and to permit the characterization of that protein at the                                                                 
                                 molecular level by employing those methods that were old and well                                                               
                                 known in the art would have been prima facie obvious in view of this                                                            
                                 [McNamara] reference.  Further, the production of a membrane                                                                    
                                 preparation containing such a protein from a host cell to permit the                                                            
                                 evaluation of the binding characteristics of a receptor protein was a                                                           
                                 practice that was also old and well known at the time that the instant                                                          
                                 invention was made.                                                                                                             
                                 In the bridging paragraph of pages 5-6 of the Answer, the examiner relies                                                       
                       upon Sommer ‘90 for the teaching that GluR1-A, -B, -C, and –D exist in one of two                                                         
                       (flip and flop) sequence versions.                                                                                                        




                                 Characterizing GluR4B as GluR-D the examiner concludes at page 6 of the                                                         
                       Answer, that:                                                                                                                             
                                          Because McNamara disclosed that humans have a                                                                          
                                          GluR-D gene, as well as the location of that gene and                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                                 
                       17, 19 and 31 --.  These three claims are the only claims pending and on appeal in                                                        
                       this application.                                                                                                                         
                       67 Paper No. 17, mailed January 22, 1999.                                                                                                 

                                                                              90                                                                                 



Page:  Previous  83  84  85  86  87  88  89  90  91  92  93  94  95  96  97  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007