Appeal No. 2001-0120 Page 5
Application No. 08/695,393
(CCPA 1975). The mere existence in the prior art of individual elements of
appellant’s invention does not, without more, render the claimed invention prima
facie obvious under 35 U.S.C. §103. Instead, there must be evidence that the
bringing together of such elements would have been prima facie obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art.
Accordingly, we reverse the rejection of claims 1-9 under 35 U.S.C. § 103
as being unpatentable over Bockow.
Cassuto in view of Partain:
According to the examiner (Answer, page 4), “Cassuto teaches treating
burns by the topical application of a local anesthetic agent such as benzocaine,
procaine, or tetracaine at a concentration of 1.5% to 10%….” The examiner
relies on Partain (Answer, page 5), to “teach that additives such as sodium lauryl
sulfate in topical compositions enhance percutaneous adsorption of the active
ingredient.”
In response to the examiner’s rejection, appellant argues (Brief, page 9),
“[t]here is no motivation taught in either Partain or Cassuto for adding sodium
lauryl sulfate to tetracaine to treat burns as taught by the present invention.” We
are compelled to agree with appellant.
Partain is directed to delivery systems comprised of certain
aminopolysaccharides including chitosan derivatives and pharmaceutical or
therapeutic actives. Col. 2, lines 29-34. We recognize the examiner’s
arguments at page 8 of the Answer, wherein the examiner points out that “the
permeability of most pharmaceuticals is poor due to the barrier properties of the
skin” and that “Partain teaches that percutaneous absorption of pharmaceuticals
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007