Appeal No. 2003-1783
Application No. 09/560,472
compound and all of its properties are inseparable; they are one and the same.” If the
compounds disclosed in the specification possess the property of reducing non-specific
adsorption of inorganic ions, peptides, proteins, and saccharides to a surface of a
device, the exact same compound disclosed in Humphries must also necessarily
possess this property. Furthermore, Humphries clearly indicates that its graft
copolymers inhibit the adhesion of bacteria to solid surfaces. Humphries, page 297.
The rejection of representative claim 5 is affirmed. Dependent claims 6, 8, 12,
61, 64 and 65 fall with representative claim 5.
However, independent claim 15 stands on a different footing than claim 5 and
includes the limitation that the non-interactive polymer sidechain include a functional
moiety. In addition, claim 13 requires that an analyte is bound by the functional
molecule in a fluid phase. We do not find that the examiner has presented sufficient
evidence or indicated where Humphries describes a functional moiety as claimed in
claims 13 or 15. The rejection of claims 13 and 14 and claims 9, 10, 15, 16 and 18,
over Humphries is reversed.
Likewise, we do not find the examiner has presented evidence or indicated where
Humphries discloses a patterned surface in accordance with claim 20. The rejection of
claims 20-23 and 66 over Humphries is reversed.
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