Appeal No. 1997-1748 Page 5
Application No. 08/394,935
(Morino, page 6).
According to the examiner (answer, page 3),
[i]t would have been obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made
to use the aminosilanes of JP '305 in WO '788 and
expect them to function equivalently for the
neutralization of an acid functional polymer in
order to make the claimed blend composition for
improving adhesion to chalky substrates especially
since no criticality of components is noted.
The difficulty we have with the examiner's stated
position stems, in part, from the fact that the examiner has
not pointed to any particularized teaching of either of the
applied references which would have suggested that the
addition of the silane of Morino (JP '305) to the blend of
Calhoun (WO '788) would function to improve adherence to
chalky substrates as posited by the examiner as a basis for
adding or substituting the silane of Morino for one or more of
the ingredients of the composition of Calhoun. Nor has the
examiner furnished any other convincing rationale for the
proposed modification of the composition of Calhoun including
a detailed explanation as to how any such proposed
modification would have resulted in a blend composition
corresponding to appellant's specified blend.
In order for a prima facie case of obviousness of the
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