Appeal No. 99-0872
Application 08/885,399
and 6 or the plastic coatings 8 and 10 on the thin sheets 5 and 6 are regarded as friction
reducing layers, Simeth does not disclose either (1) a plate cylinder having a mounting
surface to which no friction reducing material is affixed thereto or (2) a printing plate having
a mounting surface to which no friction reducing material is affixed thereto.
The examiner made the following statement on pages 8-9 of the answer:
Having the teaching in Simeth of utilizing a separating
medium affixed to at least one of the printing plate and plate
cylinder mounting surfaces, it would have been obvious to one
having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was
made to broadly apply the friction reducing layer in Simeth
(5,154,120) directly to either: (1) the printing plate mounting
surface; (2) the plate cylinder mounting surface; or (3) to both
mounting surfaces so as to perform the function as disclosed
by Simeth (5,154,120) for improving the ease of mounting and
adjusting a printing plate on the outer surface of a plate
cylinder.
The above-quoted conclusion reflects insufficient consideration of the appellant’s
specific claim limitation that the friction reducing layer be affixed to one of the plate cylinder
and printing plate but not the other. It is misplaced to state that Simeth teaches a
separating medium affixed to at least one of the printing plate and plate cylinder mounting
surfaces, where Simeth discloses a separating medium affixed to both mounting surfaces
and the issue is whether it would have been obvious to not have a separating medium
affixed to one of the mounting surfaces.
Assuming that the examiner is correct that it would have been obvious to one with
ordinary skill in the art to apply the friction reducing layer in Simeth to either (1) the printing
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