Appeal No. 2003-2129
Application No. 09/557,044
agricultural crops from freezing by applying a composition to the
crop, the examiner appreciates that Kobayashi does not teach the
claimed application of a fermented biomass material. The process
of Kobayashi entails spraying a liquid aqueous solution or
emulsion of waxes, or resins, or a combination of both to the
agricultural crop. To remedy the deficiency of Kobayashi, the
examiner cites Janke for its teaching of utilizing a fermented
biomass material as a deicing or anti-icing composition for
roads, bridges, runways, taxiways and other outdoor surfaces.
Based on the Janke disclosure, the examiner concludes that it
would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art "to
modify the method of Kobayashi by using a fermented biomass as
the spray material as disclosed by Janke et al. so as to use
material that is inexpensive and widely-available in large
quantity" (page 4 of Answer, first paragraph). However, we agree
with appellant that Janke's disclosure of treating inorganic,
inanimate structures as roads and bridges with a fermented
biomass material in order to prevent icing would not have
provided the requisite motivation for one of ordinary skill in
the art to use the fermented biomass material of Janke for
treating living, organic material, such as the claimed
agricultural crop. Appellant presents a persuasive argument that
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