Appeal No. 2005-2120 Page 3
Application No. 09/964,120
hypochlorite, the cartilage is removed and soaked in a 3% hydrogen peroxide,
diced, and then dried at 110°F to remove over half the water content, wherein the
dried product has improved shelf life, reduced volume and better handling. See
Examiner’s Answer, page 4. The examiner acknowledges that “Moore does not
teach adding salt or [the] instant amount of salt.” Id.
Luck is cited for teaching “a microwave sterilization of dry protein that
retains the chemical, physical, and physiological properties of the proteinaceous
materials by removing water substantially from the host material.” Id. According
to the rejection, “Luck [ ] teach[es] the protein is substantially dehydrated by
placing the protein material in an aqueous solution in combination with salt, which
is adventitiously present in the medium.” Id. at 4-5.
Steffan is cited for teaching a method of making collagen fibers for
surgical use, wherein sodium chloride is used in an amount of 5 to 15% for
dehydration purposes. See id. at 5.
The rejection concludes:
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art
a [at, sic] the time the invention was made to combine the
teachings of Moore and Luck [ ] and additionally utilize salt for
dehydrating the cartilage. One would have been motivated to do so
since Luck [ ] teach[es] a method of dehydrating protein material by
placing the material in an aqueous medium containing salt, followed
by lyophylization at instant temperatures to remove all of the water
from the protein material and yet retain the physiological activity of
the protein. Therefore, one would have been motivated to further
add salt to Moore’s method of dehydration to provide for an additive
effect of further facilitating and hastening the dehydration process.
Moreover, it is prima facie obvious to combine two dehydrating
techniques taught by the prior art for the same purpose, i.e. drying
material containing protein and simultaneously retaining the activity
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