Appeal No. 96-3781
Application No. 08/259,891
printing indicia of ink on top of the protective layer.
Consequently, the combined teachings of Gartland and Knudsen
do not result in the claimed indicia bearing transfer.
We will sustain the examiner's rejection of claim 10.
Knudsen discloses the claimed composite material comprising a
cured elastomeric base layer, an elastomeric sheet bonded to
the cured elastomeric base layer, a thermoset coating on the
elastomeric sheet and indicia comprising ink on the thermoset
layer. Although Knudsen does not disclose that the indicia is
in the form of a sublimation dye, it is notoriously well known
in the art to employ sublimation dyes to impart indicia on a
thermoset layer. Accordingly, we find that it would have been
obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute a
sublimation dye for the printing ink of Knudsen on the
protective layer. Also, while Knudsen is silent regarding the
clarity of the thermosetting protective layer, it would appear
that the protective layer exemplified at column 5, lines 27-
32, of the reference is within the scope of suitable thermoset
layers disclosed at page 6 of appellant’s specification, first
paragraph, and Knudsen does not disclose adding a colorant to
the protective layer. Moreover, we find that it would have
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