Appeal No. 2001-1693 Page 5
Application No. 09/168,099
his process (e.g., see lines 55-58 in column 6) and since Reusser teaches recycling to
his reaction zone unconverted feed materials or products (e.g., see lines 11-13 in
column 6). The modified process resulting from this combination of Reusser and Kelly
would fully correspond to the process defined by appealed independent
claim 2.
In support of their nonobviousness position, the appellants present the following
argument on pages 11 and 12 of the Brief:
There are principally two reaction systems present in the claimed
process. On the one hand 1-butene and isobutene is [sic] reacted to get
propene and 2-methyl-2-butene, which is further reacted with ethene to
result in propene and the initial isobutene, which is recycled.
In the other reaction system 1-butene is reacted with 2-butene to give
propene and 2-pentene, which is further reacted with ethene to result in
propene and 1-butene, which is recycled into the first reaction. The
advantage of the present invention is that the combination of the two
metathesis reactions produces an increased amount of propene without
the need of employing an excess of ethene, see page 3, lines 8-12. Most
importantly, and apparently overlooked by the examiner, is the fact that
the two systems are not simple sequential processes, but they are
interwoven and both occur in both reaction steps, steps a) and c).
The reaction of 2-pentene and 2-methyl-2-butene with ethene formally
requires only equimolar amounts of ethene in order to obtain the product
in high yield. Thus, the amount of ethene used can be kept small. The
prior art does not disclose or suggest such process.
This argument is unconvincing primarily because it is predicated on features not
required by the independent claim on appeal. For example, step (a) of this claim does
not require the above argued features that "1-butene and isobutene is [sic] reacted to
get propene and 2-methyl-2-butene" and that "1-butene is reacted with 2-butene to give
propene and 2-butene." Instead, this claim step requires only the generic "reaction of a
mixture containing 1-butene, 2-butene and isobutene to give a product mixture
containing propene, 2-pentene and 2-methyl-2-butene." This requirement is satisfied
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