Federal Circuit Affirms Rejection of Claims Directed to a System for Detection of Blood Within a Body Lumen
On July 19, the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences that the claims of U.S. Patent Application No. 10/097,096 were obvious over a combination of prior art references. The ‘096 application states that it relates to “a method and system for detection of colorimetric abnormalities in vivo, and specifically within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.” Figure 3 of the ‘096 application is shown below:
The Federal Circuit held that the Board’s affirmance of the Examiner’s rejection of all claims as obvious was “supported by substantial evidence.” The Federal Circuit found that the claims at issue were a “predictable variation of the combination of [the prior art references].” The Federal Circuit also rejected the Applicant’s argument that the Board relied on new grounds in reaching its decision, stating: “[w]hile the Board’s explanation may go into more detail than the examiner’s, that does not amount to a new ground of rejection.”
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