Appeal No. 2003-1398
Application 09/472,800
5, lines 5-21 and 40-48), there is no disclosure of oil absorption capacity. The examiner does not
establish any relationship based on properties other than particle size between the ammonium
nitrate particles of Hajto and those of the secondary references.
Thus, on this record, the examiner has not established that the prills of Hajto are porous
and have an oil absorption capacity which satisfies the limitations of the appealed claims, and
while the secondary references may evince particle size as a recognized result effective variable,
that fact alone provides no more than general guidance to try a smaller particle size. Thus, the
combined teaching of the applied reference would not have provided a reasonable suggestion that
the modification of the particle size of the prills of Hajto would reasonably be expected to result
in the AN prills having all of the properties specified by the appealed claims. See In re
O’Farrell, 853 F.2d 894, 903-04, 7 USPQ2d 1673, 1681 (Fed. Cir. 1988) (“In [other cases], what
was ‘obvious to try’ was to explore a . . . general approach that seemed to be a promising field of
experimentation where the prior art gave only general guidance as to the particular form of the
claimed invention or how to achieve it. [Citations omitted.]”).
The examiner’s decision is reversed.
Reversed
CHARLES F. WARREN )
Administrative Patent Judge )
)
)
)
TERRY J. OWENS ) BOARD OF PATENT
Administrative Patent Judge ) APPEALS AND
) INTERFERENCES
)
)
JEFFREY T. SMITH )
Administrative Patent Judge )
24933
- 5 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007