Appeal No. 1998-0434
Application 08/620,745
acid or derivatives thereof, alone or in combination, and
optionally can contain a pH buffer, one example of which is
boric acid (col. 9, line 57 - col. 10, line 12). Also, fixing
solutions in concentrated form are disclosed (col. 15, line
60; col. 16, lines 29-30). Nishigaki contains a similar
disclosure (col. 15, lines 40-62; col. 31, line 62; col. 32,
lines 29-30).
To arrive at the appellants’ claimed invention, one must
make a concentrated fixing solution, must choose to use a
water-soluble aluminum salt hardener, must choose, from among
gluconic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid or derivatives
thereof, alone or in combination, gluconic acid or a mixture
containing it, and must use either no buffer or no more than
0.04 mol/liter of boric acid as a buffer. A claim is not
anticipated by a reference when such independent picking and
choosing is required to arrive at the claimed invention. See
Arkley, 455 F.2d at 587, 172 USPQ at 526. Accordingly, we
reverse the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 102.
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103
Yamada teaches that his fixing solution contains a
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