Appeal No. 97-1027
Application 08/218,954
whereas layer 28 “greatly improves lateral
wicking” (column 8, lines 32-33; emphasis added).
Contrary to the examiner’s position as quoted supra, the
mere disclosure in Osborn that the patentee’s wipe acquisition
sheet 28, which overlies the intermediate wet-laid tissue layer
31 and the lowermost laminate core 34 in Osborn’s sanitary
napkin, “greatly improves lateral wicking of exudates over the
absorbent core 34” does not necessarily mean that the transverse
wicking rate of sheet 28 is greater than the transverse wicking
rate of the underlying tissue layer 31. This part of the Osborn
specification merely states that the acquisition sheet greatly
improves lateral wicking with respect to lowermost core 34. It is
silent as to the relative transverse wicking rates of sheet 28
and the tissue layer 31.
As a result, it cannot be said that the claimed relationship
of the wicking rates for the second and third absorbent layers is
the necessary result flowing from Osborn’s disclosure that sheet
28 greatly improves the lateral wicking of exudates over the core
34. Therefore, the claimed relationship of the wicking rates for
the second and third absorbent layers is not expressly or
inherently met by Osborn. See In re Oelrich, 666 F.2d 578, 581,
212 USPQ 323, 326 (CCPA 1981). It follows that Osborn is not a
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