Appeal 2007-2235
Application 10/138,617
and/or nitrogen dioxide by permeating the gases into a landfill that is
maintained such that the microorganisms in the landfill substantially reduce
the nitrogen oxide pollutants to nitrogen gas.
Claim 7 is directed to a similar method but also requires measuring
oxygen consumption of the landfill and adding, for each gram atomic weight
of oxygen consumed by the landfill, 50 to 120 ml of water (or other
“aqueous amendment”).
Claim 18 limits the method of claim 7 to one in which the gases are
detained for at least 40 hours in the landfill.
2. PRIOR ART
The Examiner relies on the following references:
Pomeroy US 2,793,096 May 21, 1957
Kneer US 5,066,392 Nov. 19, 1991
Poulsen WO 94/09885 May 11, 1994
Apel US 5,795,751 Aug. 18, 1998
Bonnin US 5,858,768 Jan. 12, 1999
Hudgins US 6,024,513 Feb. 15, 2000
Breckenridge US 6,117,672 Sep. 12, 2000
Hater US 6,283,676 B1 Sep. 4, 2001
3. NEW MATTER
Claims 7-10, 20, and 21 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first
paragraph, as “contain[ing] subject matter which was not described in the
specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the
relevant art that the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had
possession of the claimed invention” (Answer 4).
The Examiner states that “the originally filed specification and claims
do not provide support for the . . . claim limitations that oxygen consumption
4
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