Friday, March 16, 2007

US Patent 7189681 - C20 superconductor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7189681.pdf

This is an interesting case for enablement issues (35 USC 112 1st) of nanotech cases which went to the Board of Patent Appeals for the US patent office. The patent claims a fullerene superconducting wire based on C20 but was rejected by the Examiner based on insufficient test data to justify the claim of superconductivity. The Examiner was reversed by the Board which stressed the burden on the Examiner to establish a prima facie case of non-enablement even when the patent application is lacking in test data. Claim 1 reads:

1. A superconducting material comprising a structure wherein C.sub.20 Fullerene molecules are polymerized into a one-dimensional chain.

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