Ex parte DAVIS et al.Ex parte FRANCIS L. RICHTER, JAMES WILSON AND - Page 9




          Appeal No. 1999-1924                                       Page 9           
          Application No. 08/486,545                                                  


               Thus, if a claim sought in the application is not                      
          identical to yet not patentably distinct from a claim in an                 
          inventor's earlier patent, then the claim must be rejected                  
          under "obviousness-type" double patenting rejection.  See                   
          Berg, 140 F.3d at 1431, 46 USPQ2d at 1229; In re Braat, 937                 
          F.2d 589, 592,  19 USPQ2d 1289, 1291-92 (Fed. Cir. 1991);                   
          Goodman, 11 F.3d at 1052, 29 USPQ2d at 2015; Vogel, 422 F.2d                
          at 441, 164 USPQ at 622.  In determining whether a claim                    
          sought in the application is patentably distinct from the                   
          claims in an inventor's earlier patent a variety of tests have              
          been utilized.  In Berg, 140 F.3d at 1433-34, 46 USPQ2d at                  
          1230-31 and In re Emert, 124 F.3d 1458, 1461-62, 44 USPQ2d                  
          1149, 1152 (Fed. Cir. 1997), a "one-way" test was applied.                  
          Under this "one-way" test, the examiner asks whether the                    
          application claims are obvious over the patent claims.  In                  
          Goodman, 11 F.3d at 1052-53, 29 USPQ2d at 2015-16 and Van                   
          Ornum, 686 F.2d at 942-43, 214 USPQ at 766-67, a test similar               
          to the "one-way" test was applied.  Under this test, the                    
          examiner asks whether the application claims are generic to                 
          any species set forth in the patent claims.  In In re                       








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