Appeal No. 1996-3768 Page 6
Application No. 08/292,887
COLORCORE . The examiner acknowledges, “that the Formica®
reference does not literally disclose using two different
materials having an expansion of at least 300%.” See Answer,
page 6. However, it is the examiner’s position that
appellants’ specification includes the embodiments disclosed in
Formica COLORCORE . Hence, one would conclude that the®
substrate and the coating disclosed by Formica COLORCORE®
necessarily meets the expansion properties “on the order of
300%” required by the claimed subject matter. In support of
the examiner’s rejection, reference is made to page 3, lines 24
- 34 and page 6, lines 13 - 23 of the specification. We
disagree with the examiner’s position.
We find that Formica® and the cellulose based substrate to
which the Formica® is adhered have similar expansion rates. Our
position is supported by the statement in the specification
that, “the substrate and laminate are formed from similar
materials and thus tend to contract and expand at similar rates
and to similar degrees.” See specification, page 3, lines 29 -
32. Our interpretation of that portion of the specification is
that it serves to distinguish between appellants’ claimed
subject matter and the prior art represented by Formica®
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