Appeal No. 2005-2120 Page 6
Application No. 09/964,120
and furthermore, does not teach or suggest combining the protein with at least
15% by weight of an ionizing salt.
Steffan, however, is drawn to a method of manufacturing collagen fibers
for surgical application. See Col. 1, lines 8-10. While as noted by the examiner,
sodium chloride in an amount between 5 to 15% weight percent is used in the
dehydration processes, see Col. 3, lines 32-34, before that, the collagen is
subject to alkali treatment, acidification using hydrochloric acid to a pH less than
2, and mechanical treatment, see Col. 2, line 50-Col. 3, line 20, processes which
are not designed to preserve the chemical, physical, and physiological properties
of the protein. As such preservation of properties is an important object of the
methods of Moore and Luck, the ordinary artisan would not look to Steffan for the
addition of salt to the dehydration processes of those references to arrive at the
claimed invention.
Claims 42-50 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being obvious
over the combination of Moore and Ota.
Moore is relied upon as above. The examiner acknowledges that “Moore
does not specify the water content” and “does not teach adding salt.” Examiner’s
Answer, page 10.
Ota is cited for teaching a method of dehydrating scallops using salt. In
the method, 7-15% salt is used to dehydrate the ligaments of the scallops, and,
as noted by the rejection, “ligaments inherently contain collagen I.” Id.
The rejection concludes:
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