Appeal No. 95-3218
Application No. 08/100,696
adhesive which “reads on” the adhesive composition of the
claimed invention. See the examiner’s answer at page 5, lines
4-8. To support this argument the examiner refers to the
disclosure of Merton at column 2 lines 36-44 which states
The adhesive compositions of the present
invention may be preapplied to substrates well in
advance (i.e., about 60 days) of the actual bonding
operation. The fact that the composition is then
simply heat reactivated when it is desired to
perform the bonding operation permits bonding at the
worksite to be accomplished without the presence of
flammable solvents common to solvent-based adhesives
or the employment of often inconvenient water-based
adhesives.
We cannot agree with the examiner that all the
limitations of the appealed claims are found in the reference,
i.e., that the claimed composition “reads on” something
disclosed or suggested in the reference. First, the adhesive
of Merton is only in a solvent free state when it exists as a
dried film bonded to a substrate. Clearly such a
adhesive/substrate composite structure cannot fairly be said
to be a hot melt adhesive. As emphasized throughout
appellants’ brief, hot melt adhesives are defined in the art
as “100% nonvolatile thermoplastic materials that can be
heated to a melt and then applied as a liquid to an adherend.”
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