Ex parte HICKS - Page 6




              Appeal No. 1997-4381                                                                                       
              Application 08/440,734                                                                                     


              The threshold step in resolving this issue is to determine whether the examiner has met his                
              burden of proof by advancing acceptable reasoning inconsistent with enablement.   In re                    
              Morehouse, 545 F.2d 162, 165, 192 USPQ 29, 32 (CCPA 1976).  Further, even a broad                          
              allegation that the disclosure is speculative, coupled with a recitation of various difficulties           
              which might be encountered in practice, is not sufficient basis for requiring proof of                     
              operability.  In re Chilowsky, 229 F.2d 457, 462, 108 USPQ 321, 325 (CCPA 1956).                           
                     In the present case, we find that the examiner has not provided acceptable                          
              evidence that the claimed invention is inconsistent with enablement.  At best, we find the                 
              examiner has made broad allegations that the disclosure is speculative and recited                         
              various difficulties which might be encountered in practice of the invention.   This is not a              
              sufficient evidentiary basis for requiring proof of enablement and a shifting of the burden of             
              proof to appellant.                                                                                        
                     In addition, contrary to the examiner’s contention, we find that the specification                  
              provides guidance to one of ordinary skill in the art as to how to determine what peptides                 
              will block phage attachment/infection without undue experimentation.   The specification,                  
              page 12, lines 28-31, provides that “the blocker peptides of the invention bind and block                  
              binding sites/determinates on the bacteria thereby providing a competition inhibition to                   
              subsequent phage attack.”   Thus, it would reasonably appear that one of ordinary skill in                 
              the art can determine blocker peptides within the scope of the invention by their ability to               


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