Appeal 2007-2235
Application 10/138,617
is measured in the waste mass and the aqueous amendment is added based
on the oxygen consumed” (Answer 4). The Examiner urges that “[t]he
originally filed disclosure implies that the amount of water to be added has
been previously determined prior to performing the treatment process while
the instant claims reflect that the oxygen consumption is measured and the
amendment addition is adjusted according to the measurement performed
during the process” (id. at 4-5).
Appellant argues that original claim 7 and paragraphs 44 and 45 of the
Specification provide adequate support for the steps presently recited in
claim 7 (Br. 6). Specifically, Appellant urges that “[i]t is a key inventive
insight disclosed in this patent application that the amount of water that
should be provided is linked to the amount of oxygen consumed in the
landfill. The links of logic leading to this insight are disclosed in paragraphs
44 and 45” which disclose that “one can calculate a figure of about 60-200
grams of water that must be evaporated per gram-atom oxygen consumed to
dissipate the heat produced by the oxygen-consuming biodegradation
reactions” (id. at 7). Because original claim 7’s step of providing the landfill
with 50 to 120 ml of water per gram atomic weight of consumed oxygen
necessarily requires measuring the water and the oxygen, Appellant argues,
“there is clear implicit, and probably also inherent, support for measuring
oxygen consumption” (id. at 8).
“[T]he applicant must . . . convey with reasonable clarity to those
skilled in the art that, as of the filing date sought, he or she was in possession
of the invention. The invention is, for purposes of the ‘written description’
inquiry, whatever is now claimed.” Vas-Cath Inc. v. Mahurkar, 935 F.2d
5
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