Appeal No. 94-0539
Application 07/890,456
process. The examiner reasons that since Kawakami teaches
that the glass transition temperature for dye layer
compositions should be in the range of 10E to 70EC, and
Molaire teaches dye/binder mixtures having glass transition
temperatures within the range of 10-70EC, "one skilled in the
art would be directed to substitute the binder disclosed by
Molaire for that used in the examples of Chapman" (page 10 of
Answer). As pointed out by appellant, the flaw in the
examiner's reasoning is that Kawakami teaches that the binder
itself should have a glass transition temperature in the range
of 10-70EC, whereas Molaire teaches that the binder itself has
a glass transition temperature ranging from 101E to 152EC.
In our view, the most that can be concluded from the
collective teachings of the applied references is that it
might have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art
to try a binder that is known to be useful for optical
recording mediums as a binder in the donor element of a
thermal dye transfer process. Of course, it is by now well
settled that such is not the proper standard for determining
obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
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