Appeal No. 2005-2178
Application 09/969,882
plastic mulch sheet or film with slit(s) for plant openings 6 (e.g., col. 2, l. 62-67, col. 3, l. 39, to
col. 5, l. 33, and FIGs. 1-7).
Geraldson would have acknowledged that the gradient-oriented nutritional procedures
had been known for the purpose of field oriented full-bed mulch systems utilizing nitrogen and
potassium which minimizes the affects of evaporation and rainfall that alter ionic composition of
soil solutions and synchronizes rates of nutrient/water input with crop removal for long term
nutritional stability (col. 2, ll. 6-35). Geraldson would have taught that the fertilizer mixture
used depends on the type and number of plants; the use of potting mixtures which can contain
any composition, including composted wood products, and “will last for several seasons;” any
fertilizer, including in the form of time release pellets, is added at the beginning, and is applied
on top of the potting soil, except that time release pellets are mixed in the top of the potting soil;
and, in Example 2, illustrates the method with nitrogen-potassium and nitrogen-potassium-
phosphorous fertilizers, pointing out that “[w]hether grown in the field or a container, a given
yield requires a proportionate quantity of nutrients,” wherein in the container, “[t]he quantity of
nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous required per unit soil is about
10 times that in the field” with “[t]he recommended parameters . . . essential to maintain
nutritional stability” (col. 4, ll. 24-29; col. 5, l. 60, to col. 6, l. 4; col. 6, ll. 33-47; and col. 7,
ll. 24-30).
We agree with appellant (brief, e.g., pages 8, 18 and 24; reply brief, e.g., pages 2-3), and
the examiner apparently does also (answer, page 6), that one of ordinary skill in this art would
not have found in or inferred from the disclosure at col. 8, ll. 15-16, taken in light of the rest of
Geraldson Example 2, that this example teaches adding fertilizer for more than one growing
season to the reservoir container.6 We find that this person would have found in Geraldson
Example 2 the teaching that under the conditions reported, the amount of different sources of
fertilizer, including Dolomite, in amounts considered by Geraldson to produce 9 kg/plant “vine
ripe” tomatoes at “maximum productivity” for each growing season, produced “a maximum
6 It is well settled that a reference stands for all of the specific teachings thereof as well as the
inferences one of ordinary skill in this art would have reasonably been expected to draw
therefrom, see In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1264-65, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1782-83 (Fed. Cir.
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