Appeal No. 1997-1752
Application No. 08/451,379
patentability of the appealed claims in view of the disclosure
of U.S. Patent No. 5,370,962 to Anderson et al. (hereinafter
U.S. '962), notwithstanding the examiner's rejection under
35 U.S.C. § 103 over this patent in the first Office Action of
January 26, 1996, and subsequent withdrawal of such rejection.
Appellants' present specification, at page 3, characterizes
U.S. '962 as disclosing a process of blending a first toner
and a second toner wherein surface additives are optional
components of both toners. The surface additives of the
reference are the same as those employed by appellants. Since
U.S. '962 discloses the optional inclusion of the presently
claimed surface additives in both the first and second toners,
it would seem that it would have been prima facie obvious for
one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate a surface
additive in only the first toner, as presently claimed. While
appellants argued in their response of April 26, 1996, that
U.S. '962 discloses that surface blend compatibility
components are important features of the disclosed toners, it
is our opinion that the appealed claims do not exclude such
surface blend compatibility components. Indeed, EXAMPLE I of
the present invention discloses a first toner comprising
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