Appeal No. 2006-2662
Application No. 09/928,764
Thus, claim 24 is directed to an aqueous polyurethane dispersion
prepared by forming a nonionic polyurethane prepolymer and then forming
an aqueous dispersion of the prepolymer. The nonionic polyurethane
prepolymer is prepared from a formulation including methylene
diphenyldiisocyanate (MDI) having a P,P’-isomer content from 99 to 90
percent.
2. ANTICIPATION
Claims 1, 5, 7, 9, 24, 25, and 27-41 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(e) as anticipated by Jakubowski 027.1 The Examiner argues that
Jakubowski 027 describes aqueous polyurethane dispersions that read on
Appellants’ claims, that the dispersion is produced “by dispersing a
polyurethane prepolymer into water,” and that Jakubowski 027 discloses
“the use of 4,4’-MDI and polyol reactants for producing the prepolymer.
See abstract, columns 3-5, and examples.” (Answer 4.)
The Examiner argues that the claimed P,P’-isomer content is met
“because the processing of 4,4’-MDI inherently yields an insignificant
quantity of other isomers; as a result it is reasonable to conclude that the
P,P’-isomer (in other words; 4,4’-isomer) content is slightly below 100
percent and meets the appellants’ claimed percent values.” (Id.) In
particular, the Examiner argues that Friedel2 and Fischer,3 which were cited
by Appellants in their traversal of this rejection, “disclose that high purity
4,4’-MDI ha[s] a content of 4,4’-isomer of at least 98%. . . . Since these high
1 Jakubowski et al., U.S. Patent No. 5,959,027, issued September 28, 1999.
2 Friedel et al., U.S. Patent No. 4,118,410, issued October 3, 1978.
3 Fischer, Great Britain Patent Specification No. 1,263,439, published
February 9, 1972.
3
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