Appeal 2007-3546
Application 10/418,180
Examiner’s assertion of a corrosion preventive function for the added silver
and contend that one of ordinary skill in the art would not have been
motivated by the teachings of Sekiya to select Ag for inclusion in the RE-
TM magnetic layer of the perpendicular magnetic recording medium of
Ozaki on this basis.
We are not persuaded of reversible error in the Examiner’s first stated
rejection by the arguments presented in the Briefs. As acknowledged by
Appellants (Br. 7-8), Sekiya specifically includes (describes) Ag as one
element amongst a list of elements that can added to the RE-TM magnetic
layer of a magneto-optical recording medium. The list includes 22 elements
that can be added (Sekiya, col. 3, l. 63 – col. 4, l. 1). Following that list,
Sekiya presents a smaller preferred list including 5 elements (Sekiya, col. 4,
ll. 1-3). The latter preferred list is accompanied by a disclosed oxidation
corrosion prevention function. Appellants argue that the Examiner has
drawn an incorrect inference from that disclosure of Sekiya in asserting a
corrosion protective function to the disclosed Ag additive, which additive
does not appear in the smaller preferred listing of additive elements.
However, Appellants have not persuasively substantiated this argued
contrary inference with properly presented evidence; that is, that the Ag
additive was not disclosed as being useful for corrosion protection.2
2 Appellants refer to an indication by Sekiya that Ag is sensitive to corrosion
when added to a metal reflecting layer (Br. 8: Sekiya, col. 14, ll. 10-13).
The Examiner counters with a rebuttal asserting that the metal reflecting
layer is not an alloy layer and does not address an alloy of Ag (Answer 7).
Sekiya teaches that an AgAu alloy is resistant to corrosion even in the metal
reflecting layer (Sekiya, col. 14, ll. 10-13).
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