Appeal No. 1998-1866
Application 08/406,883
Claim 1 is representative of the subject matter on appeal and read as follows:
1. A strain SKB-1152 (FERM BP-4718) having high lignin-degrading activity
and thermophilic pulp bleaching activity.
The reference relied upon by the examiner is:
Blanchette et al. (Blanchette) 5,427,945 Jun. 27, 1995
(filed Feb. 18, 1994)
Claims 1, 5 to 10, 12 and 13 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as
anticipated by Blanchette. Claim 11 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a). As
evidence of obviousness, the examiner relies upon Blanchette. We reverse both
rejections.
BACKGROUND
Appellants explain in the background portion of the specification that attempts
have been made to degrade the lignin in wood using white-rot fungi that selectively
degrade lignin stating at pages 1 -2 of the specification:
Coriolus versicolor and Phanerocheate chrysporium are typical examples
of such fungi with lignin degrading activity, and they have also been used in
research and development.
However, these strain of fungi do not have sufficient lignin degrading
activity, and they were therefore inadequate for improving the brightness of pulp.
Moreover, their selectivity is low so that in addition to ligni n, they degrade
polysaccharides such as cellulose and hemicellulose at the same time. This
leads to poorer pulp quality and lower pulp yields, hence it was so far impossible
to use these fungi industrially.
Appellants also indicate at page 2 of the specification that they have developed a
method of isolating and screening new strains of fungi to identify those which have pulp
bleaching activity.
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