Appeal 2007-1855
Application 10/815,650
size activated carbon “exhibited stable chargeability for 10 hours”’ and
“provided images with ‘excellent’ fine line reproducibility, and with no
occurrence of fogging after 50,000 copies” (id., citing Machida 10-12 and
Tables 1-3).
The Examiner contends “[t]hese are the properties sought by
applicants,” finding the Specification discloses that when charcoal powder
exceeds the claimed physical limits with respect to medium particle size, “‘it
is difficult to contain the charcoal powder in the toner’” and “‘the state of
dispersion of the charcoal powder in the toner is inhomogeneous’” such that
“‘the degree of . . . blackness and the covering strength [are] considerably
lower but also the chargeability is adversely affected, thereby resulting in the
lowering of the image quality’” (Answer 8-9, citing Specification at page 3,
ll. 10-16). The Examiner contends
[t]he instant specification shows that a toner comprising a
charcoal powder having a volume-based median particle size
greater than 5.6 µm and a coefficient of variation greater than
80% provides images with “poor” thin-line reproducibility and
background fogging; while toners comprising the charcoal
powder that possesses the particle size and coefficient of
variation within the scope of instant claim 1 provided images
with “good” thin-line reproducibility and low occurrence of
background fogging.
Answer 9, citing Specification at page 22, Table 1, Examples 1-4 and
Comparative Example 1.
The Examiner determines that because Machida’s “toner (1) exhibits
the properties sought by applicants, it is reasonable to presume that the
Machida activated carbon has a volume-based median particle size and a
coefficient of variation as recited in instant claim 1,” thus shifting the burden
to Appellants (Answer 9).
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