Interference 103,781
complete. Appelgate v. Scherer, 332 F.2d 571, 573, 141 USPQ 796,
799 (CCPA 1964). . . . An inventor’s belief that his invention
will work or his reasons for choosing a particular approach are
irrelevant to conception. MacMillan v. Moffett, 432 F.2d 1237,
1239, 167 USPQ 550, 552 (CCPA 1970).” On the other hand, the
court also said, Burroughs-Wellcome Co. v. Barr Labs., 40 F.3d
at 1229, 32 USPQ2d at 1920:
A conception is not complete if the subsequent course of
experimentation, especially experimental failures, reveals
uncertainty that so undermines the specificity of the
inventor’s idea that it is not yet a definite and permanent
reflection of the complete invention as it will be used in
practice.
Here, Adang’s course of diverse experimentation, part of a
strategy designed to identify the regions of Bt genes encoding
insecticidal protein responsible for premature termination of
transcription and inefficient expression of the Bt genes in
plants, did not lead to a reduction to practice of an invention
of Count 2 prior to September 9, 1988 (AB 50). By January 1988,
Adang’s admitted “lack of quick success in their original
strategies” (AB 54-55) had resulted in an accumulation of
information, much of which was acquired after December 12, 1986.
The accumulated information was sufficient to support a patent
application directed to certain of Adang’s various possible
alternative solutions to problems which Adang had recognized as
possible solutions prior to December 12, 1986 (AB 50-51).
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