Appeal No. 2006-1066 Page 5
Application No. 09/810,109
As noted above, Zappla describes administering CDP-choline derivatives to
alcoholics for the treatment or prevention of fatty liver. Zappla, page 3, lines 6-19. As
noted by the examiner, the term “alcoholic” refers to a person suffering from alcoholism
and the term “alcoholism” refers to a disorder characterized by the excessive
consumption of and dependence on alcoholic beverages, leading to physical and
psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning. Examiner’s Answer,
page 5, lines 8-13 (citing “www.dictionary.com”). We agree with the examiner that the
terms “alcoholic” and “alcohol dependency” would be understood to mean basically the
same thing.
For example, Stedman’s Medical Dictionary2 defines an “alcoholic” as “[o]ne who
suffers from alcoholism” or “[o]ne who abuses or is dependent upon alcohol.”
Stedman’s defines “alcoholism” as follows:
Chronic alcohol abuse, dependence, or addiction; chronic excessive
drinking of alcoholic beverages resulting in impairment of health and/or
social or occupational functioning, and increasing adaptation to the effects
of alcohol requiring increased doses to achieve and sustain a desired
effect; specific signs and symptoms of withdrawal usually are shown upon
sudden cessation of such drinking.
These definitions reasonably appear to be the same as, or at least to substantially
overlap, the instant specification’s definition of alcohol “dependency.”
Granted, Stedman’s includes separate entries for “acute” and “chronic”
alcoholism and, of the two, only chronic alcoholism involves alcohol dependence.
However, Appellant has pointed to no evidence indicating that Zappla’s reference to
2 Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, 27th edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (2000). Copies of the cited
definitions are attached.
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