Ex Parte NAKAZATO et al - Page 6



          Appeal No. 96-2888                                                          
          Application No. 08/222,495                                                  

          carbamate alone” much less that the use of a thiocarbamate alone            
          fails to provide “decent anti-wear performance.”  The Table I               
          compositions which include a thiocarbamate always also include a            
          zinc dialkyldithiophosphate.  It follows that the Table I data              
          does not exhibit unexpected results in the manner argued by the             
          appellants.                                                                 
               With respect to the Nakazato Declaration, the appellants               
          contend that the comparative testing therein “shows that the use            
          of zinc 2-ethylhexylisobutyl phosphorodithioate in place of the             
          secondary zinc dialkyldithiophosphate of the present invention              
          gives inferior performance in JASO M-328-91 test” (Brief, page              
          12).  It is significant that the appellants point to nothing (and           
          we find nothing independently) in the Nakazato Declaration which            
          characterizes the performance of the inventive composition as               
          unexpected.  Even if this performance were unexpected, the                  
          proffered declaration evidence of nonobviousness still would be             
          inadequate to outweigh the examiner’s reference evidence of                 
          obviousness.  This is because the comparative evidence of the               
          declaration is considerably more narrow in scope than the                   
          independent claims on appeal in terms of, for example,                      
          compositional ingredients and concentrations.  In this regard, it           
          is well settled that rebuttal evidence which is considerably more           
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