Appeal No. 1996-2115
Application 08/809,933
23. Highly branched, water-soluble, high molecular weight, non-ionic polymeric
microparticles wherein said microparticles have an average unswollen diameter of less
than 0.1 micron, a solution viscosity of at least 2.0 mPa.s and a methylenebisacrylamide
content of from 2 to 80 molar parts per million based on the monomeric units present in the
polymer, said units comprising those of an acrylamide, an N-alkylacrylamide, an N,N-
dialkylacrylamide, N-vinylmethylformamide, or N-vinyl pyrrolidone.
26. Polymeric microparticles as defined in Claim 23 wherein said solution viscosity
is at least about 2.2 mPa.s.
27. Polymeric microparticles as defined in Claim 26 wherein said solution viscosity
is at least about 2.4 mPa.s.
29. Polymeric microparticles as defined in Claim 23 comprising acrylamide
homopolymer.
The references relied upon by the examiner are:
Flesher et al. (Flesher) 4,720,346 Jan. 19, 1988
Morgan et al. (Morgan) 3,968,037 Jul. 06, 1976
Zweigle et al. (Zweigle) 4,172,066 Oct. 23, 1979
Candau et al. (Candau) 4,521,317 Jun. 04, 1985
The rejections before us are:
I. Claim 29 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph.2
2Appellants’ brief listed claims 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 23, 26, 27 and 29 as rejected
under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph (brief, page 3). The examiner, in his answer,
withdrew the rejection of claim 1 as being indefinite and was silent as to the status of
claims 4, 5, 8, 10,13, 23, 26 and 27 (answer, page 2) but maintained his rejection of claim
29. The examiner noted that only claim 29 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 112, second paragraph (answer, page 3). Accordingly, we treat claim 29 as the only
claim rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph.
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