Board Finds Rejection Based on Overlapping Prior Art Genus Insufficient; Election Requirement Withdrawn by Broadened Initial Search

On July 14, 2020, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board issued a decision in Ex parte Park (Appeal 2019-006050) in which a rejection over an overlapping prior art genus was determined to be insufficient to establish a prima facie case of obviousness under both a lead compound analysis and an obvious equivalents/overlapping genus analysis. In addition, the Examiner’s initial rejection of subject matter beyond the elected specie was determined to be a withdrawal of the election requirement.