Appeal No. 2002-0439
Application No. 09/391,384
dioxide2. Id. The examiner indicates that Takahashi supports the general principle that
carbon dioxide may be used to control pH of an aqueous solution. Id. The examiner
concludes that “it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time
of the present invention to control the pH of the reaction of Weiss using carbon dioxide,
given that Weiss teaches specific reaction pH parameters and that it is well known in
the chemical arts that carbon dioxide may be used to control the pH of an aqueous
solution.” Id.
Appellants respond, arguing (Brief, page 4), “It is difficult to imagine that one of
ordinary skill in the art of organic chemistry would consider the requirements of an
organic synthesis sufficiently similar to sewage treatment to refer to references related
to the latter for techniques to apply to the former.” Thus, appellants argue that the
combination of references is without motivation and does not support a prima facie
case of obviousness. Brief, page 5.
Appellants indicate that hydrochloric acid has corrosive properties and formic
acid and acetic acid lead to waste water pollution resulting from creatine or creatine
monoydrate processes using such pH adjusters. (Specification, page 1, lines 35-40;
Brief, page 2).
2 Carbon dioxide is an alternative nomenclature for carbonic acid gas. Carbonic
acid gas is defined as a hypothetical acid of carbon dioxide and water. See, Grant and
Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed., McGraw Hill Book Co, New York, p. 113-114
(1987),
4
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