Appeal No. 2000-0023
Application 08/967,856
definition of "wood" is set forth. Indeed, although it is not
our burden to do so, we have scoured appellants' disclosure
and have found no such definition for "wood."
Accordingly, we have resorted to a standard, English
language dictionary for a definition of "wood." In "The
Random House Dictionary of the English Language", Second
edition, Unabridged, 1987, at page 2186, the first definition
for "wood" is:
the hard, fibrous substance composing most of the
stem and branches of a tree or shrub, and lying
beneath the bark; the xylem.
Thus, the broadest, reasonable interpretation of the term
"wood", in light of its ordinary, accepted meaning, includes
trees as argued by the examiner.
Accordingly, we agree with the examiner that because
Phytophthora is shown by Hagar to attack almond and walnut
trees and because Brouwer discloses that the therein disclosed
compounds, which are the active ingredients in the claimed
method, effectively combat Phytophthora, it would have been
prima facie obvious to "treat" almond and walnut trees with
the agents disclosed in Brouwer to combat Phytophthora. At
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