Ex parte HSU et al. - Page 8




                 Appeal No. 96-0607                                                                                                                     
                 Application No. 08/134,778                                                                                                             


                 anionic surfactants (column 3, lines 40-41) and thus would                                                                             
                 have suggested to the artisan the use of diphenyloxide                                                                                 
                 disulfonate  in place of the alkyl-aryl sulfonate emulsifier5                                                                                                                  
                 in the emulsion polymerization of Daniel involving the AMPS                                                                            
                 comonomer (column 3, lines 45-50).  Accordingly, we conclude                                                                           
                 that the subject matter of appealed claim 8 would have been                                                                            
                 prima facie obvious based on the disclosure and teachings of                                                                           
                 Daniel and Barnett.6                                                                                                                   
                          Appellants argue that Daniels alone does not suggest the                                                                      
                 combination of a salt of AMPS and a diphenyl sulfonate                                                                                 
                 surfactant (brief, paragraph bridging pages 3-4).  Appellants                                                                          
                 further argue that Barnett does not disclose any core/shell                                                                            


                          5It should be noted that a reference of record, not                                                                           
                 applied by the examiner, suggests improved stability for latex                                                                         
                 systems produced by emulsion polymerization when using the                                                                             
                 DOWFAX surfactant (an alkyl diphenyloxide disulfonate                                                                                  
                 compound).  See Dow, “Increasing mechanical stability and                                                                              
                 reactor yields with DOWFAX anionic surfactants for emulsion                                                                            
                 polymerization applications”, pp. 1-12, Dec. 1986.                                                                                     
                          6The examiner has relied upon Chmelir, Smith ‘224 and                                                                         
                 ‘359, and Moradi-Araghi to show the relative equivalence of                                                                            
                 sodium and ammonium salts of AMPS in the art (answer, pages 4-                                                                         
                 5; brief, pages 6-7).  These references are discussed below                                                                            
                 with respect to the claims on appeal limited to the ammonium                                                                           
                 salt of AMPS.  A discussion of the Roncari and Bowman                                                                                  
                 references is not necessary to reach our decision.                                                                                     
                                                                           8                                                                            





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