Appeal No. 1996-0903
Application No. 07/692,211
applied paint pattern is self-leveling under the action of the
diffusion force of the paint and the surface tension acting
between the paint and the cylindrical substrate 8 (see
Nakamura, column 7, lines 56-62). According to the examiner’s
findings (see page 3 of the answer), the epoxy resin, among
others, is irreversibly curable. There is authority that
supports this finding. According to The Condensed Chemical
Dictionary (10th edition 1981), page 414 (copy attached), an
epoxy resin is a thermosetting resin. Appellants concede on
page 15 of their main brief that thermosetting resins,
including epoxies, are irreversibly curable in that they are
hardened as a result of a change in the chemical make-up of
the composition, namely, a cross-linking chemical reaction.
Appellants’ main argument supporting patentability is
that Nakamura’s plastic paint compositions are “reversible
soluble solvent-based plastics” (main brief, page 16).
Appellants contend that Nakamura’s “plastics are not cured,
i.e., hardened by a chemical reaction, but baked to remove the
solvents, i.e., by drying the liquid plastic” (main brief,
page 15).
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