Appeal No. 2004-1154
Application No. 09/247,219
acknowledged by appellant and evidenced by Dahlstrom, it was
known in the art to precipitate protein from dairy milk or
vegetable from an acidic media, we are satisfied that it would
have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the
art to apply the precipitation process of Tomasula to vegetable
protein. It is not insignificant that appellant states that
“[a]pplicant does not refute the teachings in Tomasula regarding
applicability of the CO2 process to other proteins for the
primary purpose of precipitating those proteins” (page 6 of
supplemental brief, last paragraph).
Appellant further maintains that “there is nothing in
Tomasula to suggest that when vegetable proteins (as opposed to
dairy, animal, or microbial proteins) are precipitated, the
original size of the precipitated solids can be maintained as
required by step (c) of Claim 15" (id.) However, since we find
that it would have been obvious to apply the process of Tomasula
to a solution/dispersion of vegetable protein, we agree with the
examiner that maintaining particle size of the precipitate during
the depressurizing step of Tomasula would be an obvious, if not
an inevitable, result.
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007