Appeal No. 2005-1383
Application No. 09/364,847
The claims stand rejected as follows:
I. Claims 1-6 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C § 112, first paragraph, as being
based on a specification which fails to provide an adequate written description
of the invention.
II. Claims 1-3, 5 and 6 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Peoples and Bülow.
III. Claim 4 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Peoples, Bülow and Argos.
We reverse Rejection I, but affirm Rejections II and III.
Background
Poly[(R)-3-hydroxyalkanoate] polymers (PHAs) “are biodegradable and
biocompatible thermoplastic materials with a broad range of industrial and biomedical
applications.” Specification, p. 1, lines 14-16. According to the specification, PHAs are
divided into two groups depending on “the lengths of their side chains and their
biosynthetic pathways.” Id., lines 22-24. “Those with short side chains, such as
polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a homopolymer of R-3-hydroxybutyric acid units, are semi-
crystalline thermoplastics, whereas PHAs with long side chains are more elastomeric.”
Id., lines 24-27.
The specification further discloses that “[b]iosynthesis of the short side-chain
PHAs such as PHB and PHBV proceeds through a sequence of three enzyme
catalyzed reactions from the central metabolite acetyl-CoA [specification, p. 1,
lines 28-30]”; whereas, “[l]ong side chain PHAs are produced from intermediates of fatty
acid β-oxidation or fatty acid biosynthesis pathways [id., p. 2, lines 12-13].”
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