Appeal No. 2001-0550
Application No. 09/030,792
is common knowledge in the art that trypsin functions most
optimally at temperatures above room temperature, it is not clear
to us that preheating the enzyme solution would be of any
practical benefit in the practice of Spina’s method. As we see
it, given the relatively long time period (12-96 hours) over
which Spina’s enzyme works, and the elevated temperature that
exists within the eye relative to room temperature, it may very
well be that any initial preheating of the enzyme would have, at
best, only a negligible effect on the overall efficiency of
Spina’s method. The mere fact that the prior art could be so
modified would not have made the modification obvious unless the
prior art suggested the desirability of the modification (see In
re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902, 221 USPQ 1125, 1127 (Fed. Cir.
1984)). Spina contains no such suggestion.
For these reasons, the rejection of claim 1, as well as
claims 2, 9 and 11 that depend therefrom, as being anticipated by
or, in the alternative, obvious in view of Spina will not be
sustained.
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