Appeal No. 1999-2646
Application No. 08/794,398
allows rapid clot stabilization and subsequent tissue ingrowth
(see pages 12, 15 and 17 in the underlying specification).
Implicitly conceding that Duran ‘021 lacks any teaching
that the reabsorbable stents or rings 1 disclosed therein are
porous, the examiner has concluded (see page 5 in the answer)
that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to employ the resorbable materials disclosed by Duran
‘297 (see column 11, lines 45 through 67) in the rings or
stents 1 of Duran ‘021. According to the examiner,
reconstituted collagen, one of the resorbable materials
disclosed by Duran ‘297, “is made of fibrils forming an
irregular porous surface” (answer, page 11). The
appellants counter (see page 13 in the main brief and page 5
in the reply brief) that none of the resorbable materials
disclosed by Duran ‘297, including reconstituted collagen, is
necessarily porous.
Given the unsubstantiated nature of the examiner’s
finding that reconstituted collagen is porous and the
appellants’ challenge thereto, we are constrained to conclude
that the examiner has failed to advance the factual basis
necessary to support a conclusion that the subject matter
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