Appeal No. 1996-1735
Application No. 08/184,526
Accordingly, we reverse the examiner’s decision rejecting
claim 3 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
We turn next to the examiner’s rejection of claims 4
through 9 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over the
disclosure of the Weiss reference. Appellants do not argue
that the limitations recited in claims 5 through 9 impart
patentability over the Weiss reference. What appellants argue
is that the Weiss reference would not have rendered a
polyamide curative having “the ratio of amine group
equivalents to acid group equivalents...from about 1.20:1.00
to about 1.80:1.00” recited in claim 4 obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art. However, as indicated supra, we
find that the Weiss reference describes a polyamide curative
having the amine group equivalents to acid group equivalents
ratio of 2.00:1.00, which is very close to the claimed ratio
of “about 1.80:1.00". We further find that the polyamide
curative described in the Weiss reference can be produced by a
condensation reaction between imide or anhydride with an
excess amine, “namely little above the stoichiometrically
calculated quantity up to a very substantial excess, i.e. up
to a 100 molar percent excess.” See Answer, page 3, together
9
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