Appeal No. 2000-0343
Application 08/849,008
The examiner points out (answer, page 9) that the
thermoplastic polymers disclosed by Gaylord ‘230 include
chlorinated polymers (col. 2, lines 67-68), but does not
explain how the applied references would have fairly
suggested, to one of ordinary skill in the art, using
thermoplastic polymers which have been surface modified by
irradiation or fluorination.
The examiner argues that using Earl’s solvent in the
Gaylord ‘230 method “as a processing aid/viscosity reducer
and/or carrier” “is held/seen to be an obvious expedient
to/well within the purview of one of ordinary skill in this
art” (answer, page 9). The relevant issue, however, is not
whether dissolving the Gaylord ‘230 ethylenically unsaturated
carboxylic acid or anhydride in a nonaqueous solvent would
have been within the purview of one of ordinary skill in the
art but, rather, whether the applied references themselves
would have fairly suggested doing so to one of ordinary skill
in the art. See Rinehart, 531 F.2d at 1051, 189 USPQ at 147.
The examiner has not explained how, particularly considering
that Gaylord ‘230 is directed toward compatibilizing
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