Interference 102,728
sequence on December 1, 1982, the date the 24-mer was ordered. Paper No. 180,
pp. 13-14.
In first considering the notebook pages alone, we point out that an inventor’s
notebooks generally do not constitute independent corroboration of an inventor’s work.
Rivise and Caesar, Interference Law and Practice, Vol. 1, §§ 126 and 127, pp. 126-
128. Nevertheless, we find that Dr. Singh ordered the synthetic 24-mer on December
1, 1982. We make this finding because the order and the synthesis of the
oligonucleotide are corroborated by Mr. Ng.36 Thus, with respect to Dr. Singh’s
laboratory notebook page, SX 3, Bates No. 126, the order form and Mr. Ng’s testimony
corroborate Dr. Singh’s ordering of the oligonucleotide. However, the order form does
not corroborate the handwritten notation on the notebook page. Dr. Singh’s notation
stands uncorroborated.37 Price v. Symsek, 988 F.2d at 1189, 26 USPQ2d at 1036 (“an
36 Mr. Peter Ng states [SR 478, para. 11]:
11. On December 16, 1982, Arjun Singh requested the synthesis of a
24mer "-factor sequence, AGGGAGATCACATCTTTTATCCAA. The reference
number was D1253-54. Column 7 of the Log Book shows that I completed the
purification on December 20, 1982. (Singh Exhibit 6, Log Book, Bates No.
000186). (Singh Exhibit 7, Notebook 1301, Bates No. 000192). The synthetic
DNA request form shows that I completed the purification of the oligonucleotide
on December 20, 1982. (Singh Exhibit 3, Notebook 1249, Bates No. 000126).
37 All of the pages in Dr. Singh’s notebook on which Singh relies to establish
conception were witnessed on “6/13/86” by Mr. Henner. To that end, we direct attention
to Brake’s arguments that Mr. Henner did not have first hand knowledge of Dr. Singh’s
work in December of 1982. Paper No. 190, p. 61. Brake points out that Dr. Singh did
not explain the contents of his notebooks to Mr. Henner, but merely handed them to
him for signing three and one half years after the work was said to have been
performed. Id., pp. 61-62. Thus, although the page was eventually witnessed, Mr.
Henner’s signature does not corroborate the formation in Dr. Singh’s mind of a “definite
59
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