Appeal No. 2006-0647
Application No. 10/069,561
basis. To the extent the Patent Office rulings are so supported,
there is no basis for resolving doubts against their correctness.
Likewise, we may not resolve doubts in favor of the Patent
Office determination when there are deficiencies in the record
as to the necessary factual bases supporting its legal conclusion
of obviousness.
In re Warner, 379 F.2d 1011, 1017, 154 USPQ 173, 178 (CCPA 1967)
(emphasis in original).
Soe describes “a tissue sealant which can seal injuries, reduce loss of
blood, maintain a hemostasis, and promote healing of an injured site” (Soe
2: 7-9). The sealant is a liquid or powder (id. at 4: 41), prepared “by
admixing thrombin and carboxylmethyl cellulose . . . with fibrinogen” (Soe
3: 32-33) and other proteins, including coagulation factor XIII (id. at 4: 49).
“A carboxylmethyl cellulose which may be used . . . is etherified with
carboxylmethyl groups at a part or all of [the] hydroxy groups” (id. at 3:
36-37). “The degree of etherification with carboxylmethyl groups . . . is
preferably 0.5 to 1.5, more preferably 0.6 to 0.95, . . . to ensure an
appropriate water-solubility” (id. at 3: 40-41). Soe does not describe fibers
of any kind.
Colombo describes a method of producing a “carboxyalkyl-cellulose
[fiber] that is practically hydroinsoluble, . . . and that possesses a high
absorption and retention power or capacity, [ ] towards water[,] . . . saline
solutions, . . . physiological and plasmatic liquids” (Columbo col. 1, ll. 44-
49). Cellulose, “in the form of fibers . . . is dispersed in an organic diluent”
(id. at col. 2, ll. 9-11), and “brought into contact with . . . sodium hydroxide,
. . . so as to form the alkali-cellulose” (id. at col. 2, ll. 17-19). “The alkali-
cellulose . . . is etherified by a treatment with . . . monochloroacetic acid”
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