Appeal No. 1997-3805
Application No. 08/439,602
blue color. Baker’s enhancer, which provides better color production, is phenol or a
“phenolic type compound[]” (page 2), rather than a tertiary or quaternary amine with a
phenyl or substituted phenyl group attached to the nitrogen, as required by the claims on
appeal.
Gantzer describes a method for determining substances, particularly occult blood,
in a test sample, comprising the steps of combining the test specimen with a peroxide
source, an oxidizable indicator, and a stabilizer, for example, an aniline compound that
serves to stabilize the reagents and enhance the overall sensitivity of the test. Aniline
compounds are tertiary or quaternary amines having a phenyl or substituted phenyl group
attached to the nitrogen. The reference also describes a composition, preferably applied
to a matrix strip as two separate solutions and then dried, wherein the first solution
comprises an enhancer such as aniline, and the second solution contains a peroxide and
an oxidizable indicator compound.
According to the examiner (Examiner’s Answer, pages 7 and 8),
Gantzer renders obvious the composition recited in [the instant claims] since
at the point at which both the first and second solutions are applied to the
dry-matrix test strip, all components of the composition are mixed together
including the enhancer, the peroxide, the indicator substrate and the water
and ethanol.
Thus,
[I]t would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art . . . to substitute
the aniline compounds taught by Gantzer for the phenol compounds as the
enhancer in the method, composition and kit of [Baker] since Gantzer
teaches that aniline compounds enhance the stability of the reaction thus
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