Appeal 2007-0511
Application 10/699,508
1 definition of “additive” in The Condensed Chemical Dictionary 20 (10th ed.
2 1981). Answer at 11. The Appellants do not challenge this finding in the
3 Reply Brief.
4 Kolosov discloses a high throughput method for screening many
5 flowable materials such as lubricants. Kolosov, para. [0042]. Kolosov
6 discloses that the high throughput method can be used to analyze the
7 resulting properties of a particular flowable material or the relative or
8 comparative effects that an additive has upon a particular flowable material,
9 e.g., the effect of a detergent, a flow modifier, or the like. Kolosov, para.
10 [0043]. Based on these teachings we find that Kolosov would have
11 reasonably suggested a high throughput method for testing lubricants
12 containing an additive.
13 Kolosov does not expressly disclose that the lubricants comprise a
14 major amount of at least one base oil of lubricating viscosity and a minor
15 amount of at least one lubricating oil additive. However, the record before
16 us establishes that one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood
17 “additive” to mean any substance incorporated into a base material, usually
18 in a low concentration. See The Condensed Chemical Dictionary at 20; see
19 also O’Rear, paras. [0002] and [0046]; Gatto, para. [0051]. We find that one
20 of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably expected the lubricant
21 compositions in Kolosov, comprising a lubricant and an additive, to have a
22 major amount of a base oil and a minor amount of an additive.
23 d. Conclusion
24 For the reasons set forth above, it is reasonable to conclude that the
25 method of claim 1 and the system of claim 15 would have been obvious to
20
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