Appeal No. 2001-2521 Page 7
Application No. 08/738,464
chromatography system for analytes comprising a sample valve, a
chromatographic column, an elution buffer chamber and pump for eluting the
column, and a double celled detector device for detecting analyte in a continuous
stream of eluate.” Id., pages 5-6 (reference numerals omitted). He concluded
that
[it] would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time the invention was made to substitute the piezoelectric detector
of Myerholtz in the automated chromatographic system taught by
DeFord et al. because detection of the analyte directly in the
effluent stream as it comes out of the column saves the user the
labor of adding individual column fractions to the piezoelectric
detector.
Id., page 6.
We do not agree that the claimed invention would have been obvious
based on Myerholtz and DeFord. First, the examiner’s characterization of
DeFord as teaching a “column chromatography system” is somewhat misleading.
A “column chromatography system” is used to separate and purify components
of a mixture. See, e.g., the instant specification, page 1: “Processing biological
materials often involves the use of liquid chromatography to separate and
harvest a cellular product. . . . Typically, extracting the product of interest is
accomplished using a series of chromatographic separations” (emphasis added).
While the system disclosed by DeFord can include a chromatographic
column, the column is not used to perform chromatography; i.e., it is not used to
separate components of a mixture. DeFord states that the “column” in the
disclosed device is used to effect sample titration. See, e.g., column 1, lines 8-
14: “Sample titration is effected utilizing a holding zone or column, e.g., a
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