Appeal No. 2000-1019
Application No. 08/623,852
precipitation of a metal to satisfy the claim 1 language of “a
reducing agent to render a metal value insoluble.” The reducing
agent in Bender plays such an indirect role by initially reducing
the manganese, enabling it to form a soluble compound, and then
allowing it to be indirectly rendered insoluble with lime.
Analogously, the appellants’ reducing agent reduces uranium,
allowing it to be indirectly rendered insoluble with fluoride
ions (Specification, page 3, lines 29 through 36, page 4, lines 1
through 2).
Regarding the appellant’s fifth argument, the figures of
Pazdej show the use of sulfuric and hydrofluoric acid in its
leaching process (Pazdej, Figures 1 and 2). The appellants’
position that the disclosure of Pazdej would not suggest to one
of ordinary skill in the chemical arts to use fluoride ions from
hydrofluoric acid to precipitate metal-fluoride compounds is not
well-taken. But more importantly, the hydrofluoric acid
limitation is found in claim 2, but not claim 1 (Brief, Paper No.
16, Appendix, claim 1 and 2). As stated in the Grouping of
Claims section, our discussion addressing the rejection under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) will be limited to independent claim 1.
Therefore, the obviousness of using hydrofluoric acid to
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