Appeal No. 2006-0650 Page 8
Application No. 10/007,613
15, line 15) for the cleaning and decontamination process. It would have been obvious
to have utilized a keratinase, rather than the subtilisin, since Huth teaches these as
suitable proteolytic enzymes for the disinfection of medical devices. Id., column 15,
lines 13-15. Appellant did not provide any arguments to the contrary.
In another example, Huth describes a pericylinder carrier (“article”) which was
submerged in a test tube containing a protease (“(d) means for exposing said articles to
said proteolytic enzyme”) which had been placed in a water bath (“(b) means for
heating”) to be equilibrated to a specific temperature. Id., Column 31, lines 5-10. At
other locations in the patent, Huth teaches enzyme reactions being carried out at, e.g.,
40°C (Id., column 32, lines 65-66) and with enzymes active at temperatures of about
50°C (Id., column 15, lines 6-12). As mentioned above, Huth also discloses the
proteolytic enzyme to be a keratinase (column 15, line 15). For the same reasons as
above, these elements also clearly render obvious the limitations (b)-(d) set forth in
claim 56, including the temperature range recited in the “wherein clause.”
Appellant argued that the references cited in the rejection do not lead to “the
proteolytic enzyme and the exposing means for simultaneous heating and enzyme
exposure to allow the articles to be at an elevated temperature in a range of from about
50°C to about 65°C during exposure to a proteolytic enzyme.” Brief, page 10, lines 4-7.
This particular range is not recited in claim 56, which we have chosen as a
representative claim. Nonetheless, we find Appellant’s argument flawed. Huth describe
a prior art patent in which cleaning and disinfection of medical instruments was
accomplished at 55°C to 65°C using a solution that contained a proteolytic enzyme.
Huth, column 9, lines 19-30. Huth also provides examples of proteolytic enzymes which
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