Appeal No. 1998-1880
Application No. 08/423,865
Claim 1 is illustrative of the subject matter on appeal and is reproduced
below:
1. A method of examining a patient to determine whether said patient is
infected with Helicobacter pylori, which comprises steps of collecting gas
in the gastric cavity of said patient, and then measuring amounts of
ammonia and organic amines in the gas.
The reference relied upon by the examiner is:
Hamilton 4,947,861 Aug. 14, 1990
GROUNDS OF REJECTION
Claims 1-5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, as
lacking a correlation step in the method for determining infection.
Claims 1-5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Hamilton.
We reverse.
DISCUSSION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we considered appellants’
specification and claims, in addition to the respective positions articulated by the
appellants and the examiner. We make reference to the examiner’s Answer2, and
the examiner’s Supplemental Answer3 for the examiner’s reasoning in support of the
rejections. We further reference appellants’ Brief4, and appellants’ Reply Brief5 for
the appellants’ arguments in favor of patentability.
2 Paper No. 13, mailed May 20, 1997.
3 Paper No. 16, mailed September 15, 1997.
4 Paper No. 12, received March 27, 1997.
5 Paper No. 14, received July 22, 1997.
2
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