Appeal No. 2001-1730 Page 3
Application No. 08/603,182
reference teachings and a reasonable expectation of success. According to
Appellants (Reply Brief, page 1), the claimed invention is drawn to a hirudin
immunogen devoid of carrier protein. In this regard, Appellants allege the
examiner erred finding all claims unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103 because
the references do not teach or suggest their combination and because the
references do not provide a reasonable expectation of success of their
combination. For the following reasons, we agree with Appellants.
I. ‘443 IN VIEW OF MAURER AND MAN:
According to the examiner (Answer, page 7), ‘443 discloses an
immunogen conjugate comprising hirudin linked to a carrier protein. In this
regard, the examiner finds (Answer, page 7):
Although [‘443] does not specifically teach the presence of
aggregated (i.e. polymerized) hirudins or hirudin peptides (i.e., hirudin-
hirudin or hirudin peptide-hirudin peptide conjugates) in their immunogen
preparation, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art,
as suggested in a specific example of [‘443], that such aggregates would
have been expected in those hirudin immunogen conjugates in which the
formation of such aggregates was not specifically blocked by the optional
step of blocking undesired reactive groups, amino groups in particular. . . .
The teachings of [‘443] differ from the invention as instantly claimed in
conjugating hirudin or hirudin peptides with an additional carrier protein for
use as an immunogen.
To make up for the deficiency in ‘443, the examiner relies on Maurer and
Man. According to the examiner (Answer, page 8), Maurer teach the general
proposition that “the greater the molecular weight and the more complex the
structure of the macromolecule, the greater the immune response one would
reasonably expect to obtain.” Therefore, the examiner concludes (Answer, page
9), that Maurer teaches, “it is advisable to aggregate a protein artificially in order
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