Appeal No. 2002-1360 Page 3
Application No. 09/133,942
immunoassay (LAIA), and the like.” Specification, page 2. Each of these assays
has various drawbacks. See id.
The specification discloses that “with respect to UTI, it was found that
agglutination reaction can be measured even if free anti-UTI antibodies that are
not adhered to an insoluble support such as latex particles etc. are used.” Page
3. Thus, the disclosed method “compris[es] preparing antibodies against UTI
that are not adhered to an insoluble support (free anti-UTI antibodies), adding the
antibodies to said sample, and measuring the degree of the resulting
agglutination. Examples of the insoluble support include latex particles, gold
colloid particles, and the like.” Id. According to the specification, this method “is
excellent in precision and reproducibility, . . . [and] can be carried out easily
without the need of special operations such as immobilization of antibodies, or
use of special equipment. Furthermore, compared to LAIA, it has an advantage
of causing less contamination in an automatic analyzer.” Id.
Discussion
Claim 1, the only independent claim, is directed to a method of measuring
the concentration of UTI in solution by adding, to a sample, anti-UTI antibodies
“that are not adhered to an insoluble support,” measuring the degree of
agglutination that results, and correlating the degree of agglutination to UTI
concentration. The examiner rejected most of the claims as anticipated by
Maehara, and rejected all of the claims as obvious in view of Craig and Maehara.
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