Appeal 2007-1897
Application 10/044,846
unsubstituted O-alkylene units” (Appeal Br. 5), schematically represented
as: Polysaccharide-O-Alkylene-O-Alkylene-O-Polysaccharide (Reply Br. 4-
5). Moreover, the presently claimed cross-linked polysaccharide
“comprise[s] repeating ether crosslinking units” (Appeal Br. 5).
Having carefully considered both Appellants’ and the Examiner’s
arguments, we find that the Examiner has not established a sound basis for
asserting that “a product of Qin would inherently be the same as presently
claimed” (Answer 4).
At a minimum, the Examiner has not explained how Qin’s alkylene
glycol cross-linking agent, which is monomeric in nature, can be used to
produce a cross-linked polysaccharide with a polyalkylene glycol backbone
(a structure clearly required by the claims), rather than an alkylene glycol
backbone. Moreover, while not needed for our decision, we further find the
Examiner’s assertion that Qin’s “use of ethylene glycol can also form ether
linkages with [ ] carboxyalkyl polysaccharides” to be unpersuasive, for the
reasons advanced in section C2 of Appellants’ Reply Brief.
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