Appeal No. 1999-2200
Application No. 08/896,063
BACKGROUND
This decision consolidates the fourteen appeals listed in Appendix A. Each
appeal relates to one of three classes of glutamate receptors. Glutamate receptors
are the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter receptor in the mammalian brain
and are activated in a variety of normal neurophysiological processes.2 Four major
classes of glutamate receptors are well characterized: N-methyl-D-aspartate
(NMDA), [.alpha]-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA), kainate,
and 2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoate.3
The applications on appeal involve the kainate, AMPA, and NMDA receptor
classes. As illustrated in Appendix B, the appeals not only fall within one of three
receptor classes, but are further divided into subclasses, with respect to the kainate,
and AMPA receptor classes.
While four different examiners were involved in this series of appeals, a
single reference, Puckett4, provides a common thread which relates all of the
appeals. All but two5 of the appeals, contain at least one rejection under
35 U.S.C. § 103 upon which Puckett is relied upon in some manner. Additionally,
the two appeals that do not expressly rely on Puckett in the statement of the
rejection, make reference to Puckett in the body of the examiner’s Answer.
2 Puckett et al. (Puckett), “Molecular cloning and chromosomal localization of one of
the human glutamate receptor genes,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, Vol. 88, pp.
7557-561 (1991).
3 Sun et al. (Sun), “Molecular cloning, chromosomal mapping, and functional
expression of human brain glutamate receptors,” Neurobiology, Vol. 89,
pp. 1443-447 (1992).
4 Supra, n.2.
4
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