In re Deuel
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
51 F.3d 1552 (1995)
Deuel (appellant) claimed purified and isolated DNA and cDNA genetic sequences broader than the handful of specific molecules actually disclosed in the application, since genetic discovery at the time did not allow disclosing the structure of every claimed molecule; the patent examiner and the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences rejected the claims as obvious, reasoning that because cloning techniques were well known, any gene coding for an already-public protein was inherently also in the public domain once the protein itself was known.
Whether, where a general process for making or isolating compounds is already known, all possible results of that process are rendered obvious.