Appeal No. 2002-0405
Application No. 07/325,269
high-current applications. Specification, p. 2, ll. 7-29. These
drawbacks include nonhomogeneity, brittleness and hardness, all
of which contribute to difficulty in fabricating parts utilized
in high-current applications. Id. According to appellants, they
have developed a sol-gel method for preparing superconducting
mixed-metal oxides which are different in structure and
performance characteristics than those of the prior art. Appeal
Brief, Paper No. 46, pp. 5-6. As evidence of the differences
between superconductors prepared by appellants’ sol-gel process
versus a conventional process, appellants rely on a 1994 article
written by Gotor et al.7 According to appellants, "[t]he paper,
which postdates Applicants effective filing date by some 6 years
and therefore is not prior art, describes experimental research
comparing 1-2-3 superconductors prepared by an undescribed
'commercial' process with products made by a sol-gel process."
Appeal Brief, p. 5.
7Gotor et al. (Gotor), “Grain growth, sintering and weak links in
YBCO ceramics: advantage of sol-gel process,” Physica C 235-240, pp.
463-464 (1994).
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