Appeal No. 1998-0900
Application No. 08/290,047
apparent focus of the homologous relationship between the claimed and prior art
compounds.
From the statement of the rejection, as well as the discussion at pages 12-14 of
the Examiner's Answer, which focuses on the compounds disclosed by Wagner, it is
reasonable to conclude that the examiner regards the compounds of Wagner as being
the most closely related to the claimed compounds. The examiner concludes that
(Answer, page 11):
it would be obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art that
homologous compounds having an alkyl substituent on the
alpha carbon of the amino acid moieties would possess a
community of properties in common. . . . Those of ordinary
skill in the art [would] readily recognize that compounds
having asymmetric carbon atoms possess optical isomers.
(Citation omitted).
Appellants' principal argument as to whether the examiner has established a
prima facie case of obviousness, focuses on the fact that none of the references
mention optically active compounds or appreciate the importance of optical activity to
the claimed invention. As stated above, the examiner has urged that the presence of
an asymmetric carbon atoms in the prior art compounds would have suggested that the
compounds exist as optical isomers. The examiner has, additionally, argued that "the
claims have no requirement that is supported in the specification as to the purity of the
claimed compounds and as such reads on any composition containing the recited
compounds including mixtures of the compound with its optical isomers." (Answer, page
11).
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