Appeal No. 2002-2228 Page 3
Application No. 09/555,906
mindedness, confusion, anxiety, dizziness and headache (Kleijnen, page 1136). Hsia,
referencing Kleijnen, teaches that ginkgo is “known to have an effect on persons
suffering from difficulties of concentration and memory, absent mindedness, confusion,
and headache” (Hsia, column 4, lines 36-39).
According to Rossi, the symptoms of withdrawal from narcotics include anxiety,
depression and confusion, while the symptoms of withdrawal from chronic alcohol
abuse include headache, anxiety and confusion (Rossi, page 1290, left-hand column
and page 1291, left-hand column).
We agree with the examiner that the teachings of Kleijnen, Hsia and Rossi2 are
sufficient to establish that “it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art .
. . to use Ginkgo biloba extracts to alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal [described by
Rossi] because [the] symptoms are known to be manifested as headache, confusion,
etc. and the art [(Kleijnen, Hsia)] clearly teaches that those symptoms can be alleviated
by the administration of ginkgo biloba extracts” (Answer, page 5).
We are not persuaded otherwise by the argument that “one skilled in the art
would not make the combination that the Examiner has made with [sic, without?] the
benefit of [appellant’s] teaching” (Brief, page 4) as “[t]here is not one iota of a
suggestion of alleviating withdrawal symptoms [with Hsia’s nutritional supplements]” (id.,
page 5), and “[t]here is absolutely no teaching whatsoever [in Rossi or Kleijnen] of any
method of treating withdrawal symptoms due to substance abuse by using Ginkgo
biloba extracts” (id.). Nor are we persuaded by the argument that there is no
2 A discussion of Park, which is directed to methods of preparing particular
ginkgolide derivatives, is not necessary to our decision.
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