Source: http://openjurist.org/992/f2d/1197/in-re-karl-ziegler-and-heinz-martin
Timestamp: 2013-12-18 20:06:47
Document Index: 194440018

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 119', '§ 102', '§ 102', '§ 112', '§ 119', '§ 112', '§ 102', '§ 102', '§ 112', '§ 112', '§ 102', '§ 119', '§ 102']

992 F2d 1197 In Re Karl Ziegler and Heinz Martin | OpenJurist
992 F. 2d 1197 - In Re Karl Ziegler and Heinz Martin	Home992 f2d 1197 in re karl ziegler and heinz martin
992 F2d 1197 In Re Karl Ziegler and Heinz Martin 992 F.2d 1197
26 U.S.P.Q.2d 1600
In re Karl ZIEGLER and Heinz Martin.
April 21, 1993.Rehearing Denied; Suggestion forRehearing In Banc DeclinedJune 29, 1993.
Arnold Sprung, Sprung, Horn, Kramer & Woods, Tarrytown, NY, argued for appellants. With him on the brief were Nathaniel D. Kramer and Alan J. Grant.
Fred E. McKelvey, Sol., Arlington, VA, argued for appellee. With him on the brief was Adriene B. Lepiane.
Paul E. Crawford and George Pazuniak, Connolly, Bove, Lodge & Hutz, Wilmington, DE, were on the brief, for amicus curiae, Aristech Chemical Corp.
Kenneth E. Madsen, Kenyon & Kenyon, New York City, was on the brief, for amicus curiae, Himont, Inc. Also on the brief was James Galbraith, of counsel.
Before NIES, Chief Judge, ARCHER, Circuit Judge, and COHN, District Judge.1
Karl Ziegler and Heinz Martin (together Ziegler) appeal from the June 10, 1991 decision of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (board), sustaining the rejection of claims 37 and 38, the only claims remaining in United States patent application Serial No. 07/108,524, filed October 15, 1987 as a continuation of United States patent application Serial No. 03/514,068. We affirm.
This case concerns polypropylene, a polymer of propylene molecules.2 On August 3, 1954, Ziegler filed in Germany a patent application, Z 4348 IVc/39c (the German application), entitled "Process for polymerization and copolymerization of olefines." The application described four polymer products produced by the claimed process: polypropylene, poly-n-butylene, and two ethylene-propylene interpolymers.
On June 8, 1955, Ziegler then filed in the United States patent application Serial No. 03/514,068, the parent of the application here at issue. Ziegler claimed an August 3, 1954 priority date under 35 U.S.C. § 119 based on the German application. Because of the pendency of an interference, the PTO suspended prosecution of the parent application for a number of years. The PTO issued an office action on May 22, 1985, in which it rejected the claims then pending. The final rejection of the sole remaining claim 66 was considered and sustained by the board, and by this court in In re Ziegler, 833 F.2d 1024 (Fed.Cir.1987) (unpublished).3
On October 15, 1987, Ziegler filed the application here at issue, Serial No. 07/108,524, as a continuation of the parent application. Former claim 66 was amended and presented in this application as claim 37; Ziegler later added a claim 38. Claims 37 and 38 are the sole remaining claims in the application and read as follows:
37. Solid, plastic polypropylene characterized by being able to be pressed into flexible foils and sheets at temperatures above about 140? C and formed by the polymerization of propylene, using a catalyst formed from an aluminum alkyl and a titanium halide.
38. Solid, plastic polypropylene characterized by being able to be pressed into flexible foils and sheets at a temperature of about 140? C and formed by the polymerization of propylene, using a catalyst formed from an aluminum alkyl and a titanium halide.
The examiner finally rejected claims 37 and 38 on several grounds, three of which were sustained by the board. The board first sustained the examiner's rejection of claims 37 and 38 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(g),4 finding that one Baxter had previously invented the claimed polypropylene in experimental Run 4460-41.5
The board also sustained the examiner's rejection of claims 37 and 38 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) in view of United States Patent No. 4,371,680 to Baxter et al. (Baxter '680). Baxter '680 was filed on August 19, 1954, after the August 3, 1954 filing date of Ziegler's German application. However, the examiner concluded that because the disclosure of the German application failed to satisfy the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 112, Ziegler could not claim the benefit of its filing date under 35 U.S.C. § 119. Therefore Baxter '680 anticipated claims 37 and 38 under section 102(e). The examiner found the German application deficient for two reasons: first, the German application failed to disclose a practical utility for the claimed polypropylene; and second, the German application did not contain a written description of the claimed subject matter in that the claim language regarding being able to be pressed at temperatures "above about 140? C" for claim 37 and "about 140? C" for claim 38 was broader than the German application's disclosure that the polypropylene could be pressed "at 140? C." In his answer on appeal before the board, the examiner entered a new ground of rejection, of claim 37 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, on the ground that the specification of the United States application did not contain an adequate written description to support the claim limitation being able to be pressed at temperatures "above about 140? C."
The board sustained the following rejections: (1) claims 37 and 38 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(g) in view of Baxter's Run 4460-41; (2) claims 37 and 38 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) in view of Baxter '680, because the German application failed for two reasons to satisfy 35 U.S.C. § 112; and (3) claim 37 under 35 U.S.C. § 112 for inadequate written description.6
After the board's decision, Ziegler requested reconsideration to allow entry of an amendment canceling claim 37 and amending claim 38 to remove the term "about." The board refused, and this appeal followed.
The board sustained the examiner's rejection of claims 37 and 38 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e)7 as anticipated by Baxter '680 because Ziegler was not entitled to claim the benefit of the filing date of the German application under 35 U.S.C. § 119.8 It is undisputed that if Ziegler cannot claim the benefit of the German filing date to antedate Baxter '680, Baxter '680 anticipates and makes unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) the subject matter claimed in clai