Appeal No. 2006-0704 Page 22
Application No. 10/060,697
specification, and each is of record in the instant application21. Therefore, each
document informs this record as to what a person of ordinary skill in this art, specifically
a person with experience in the formulation of bone repair compositions22, knew and
understood at the time of appellants’ claimed invention.
Each patent teaches a composition that comprises demineralized bone and
calcium sulfate. See Sottosanti, column 2, lines 24-26 (“[t]he present invention also
provides a novel composite graft material containing DFDBA23 and calcium sulfate.”);
Hanker, column 2, lines 24-25 (“demineralized freeze-dried bone can be mixed with the
plaster24 and calcium phosphate ceramic.”); and Snyders, column 3, lines 51-54 (“[y]et
another object of the invention is to provide an osteogenic composite material[ ]25 in the
presence of [a] bone derived osteoinductive material, including demineralized bone
matrix. . . .”).
Therefore, the combination of both calcium sulfate and demineralized bone in a
single bone repair composition is not new to appellants’ invention. To the contrary, for
years prior to appellants’ filing date, a person of ordinary skill in this art knew that the
21 See Form PTO-1449, received March 29, 2002 and included, as considered by the examiner, in the
Office Action mailed July 2, 2002.
22 There is no dispute on this record that a person of ordinary skill in this art is a person with experience in
the formulation of bone graft compositions.
23 Sottosanti defines DFDBA as “[d]emineralized, freeze-dried, allogenic bone. . . .” Sottosanti, column 1,
lines 28-29.
24 According to Hanker (column 1, lines 15-17), “Plaster of Paris (PP) or equivalent forms of calcium
sulfate hemihydrate, [are] hereinafter referred to for convenience as ‘plaster’. . . .”
25 Snyders’ “osteogenic composite material” is a combination of collagen and plaster (e.g., calcium
sulfate). Snyders, column 4, lines 1-5; and column 5, lines 42-43.
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