Appeal No. 1999-1676
Application No. 08/452,228
DISCUSSION
In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration
to the appellants’ specification and claims, and to the respective positions
articulated by the appellants and the examiner. We make reference to the
examiner’s Answer1 for the examiner’s reasoning in support of the rejection. We
further reference appellants’ Brief2 for the appellants’ arguments in favor of
patentability.
BACKGROUND
The present invention is based on the discovery of an obesity gene cloned
from Rhesus monkey adipose tissue. Specification, page 2. According to the
specification (page 3) “[t]he invention is drawn to isolated nucleic acid molecules
consisting of a nucleotide sequence that encodes a protein having the amino acid
sequence of SEQ ID NO:2.”
According to the specification (Example 1) the obesity gene from Rhesus
monkey was obtained by polymerase chain reaction amplification methods using
degenerate primers “designed based on the published amino acid sequence of
[the] region flanking the human ob gene.”
While we note appellants’ statement (Brief, page 2) that there are no related
appeals and interferences, we make reference to Appeal No. 1999-1702
(Application No. 08/445,305). Claim 1 at issue in Appeal No. 1999-1702 is drawn
to an isolated protein of the formula: SEQ ID NO:1 or a pharmaceutically acceptable
1 Paper No. 15, mailed October 14, 1998.
2 Paper No. 13, received December 22, 1997.
3
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