Appeal No. 1998-1175
Application No. 08/374,462
of Quinn ‘114. In particular, Jansen discloses using a water
soluble polymer in combination with a salt of the type here
claimed (i.e., CsF). It is significant, however, that the
teachings of Jansen and Van Wijk are directed to the
separation of water vapor rather than an acid gas from a
gaseous or vaporous mixture.
It is well settled that obviousness under section 103
requires a suggestion for the prior art modification in
question as well as a reasonable expectation that the
modification would be successful. In re O’Farrell, 853 F.2d
894, 904, 7 USPQ2d 1673, 1681 (Fed. Cir. 1988). From our
perspective, the water vapor separation teachings of Jansen
and Van Wijk would not have suggested the examiner’s proposed
modification of the Quinn ‘114 process for separating acid gas
and similarly would not have provided a reasonable expectation
for success with respect to this modification. These
circumstances lead us to believe that the examiner has
improperly used the appealed claims as a template for
combining the references applied thereagainst and thus has
fallen victim to the insidious effect of hindsight syndrome
wherein that which only the inventor has taught is used
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