Appeal No. 1997-2335 Page 5
Application No. 08/367,913
As the examiner explains (answer, pages 4 and 5),
Tournut’s exemplified copolymers have a smaller (21.7%) VDF
homopolymer domain than the major VDF homopolymer domain
containing at least about 50% of the vinylidene fluoride of
the copolymer of appellant’s claimed invention. It is the
examiner’s position that "... it would be obvious to raise
said VDF to 50% or 70% in order to get the properties close to
the homopolymer; which in some circumstances [has] been
described by the reference as desirable" (answer, page 5).
The examiner’s conclusion appears to be based on the
premise that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art to have optimized the copolymer of Tournut by
increasing the amount of VDF homopolymer in the copolymer of
Tournut so as to obtain desired properties closer to those of
the homopolymer. However, a review of the applied reference
reveals that Tournut was interested in obtaining a copolymer
with a melting point close to that of the homopolymer but with
a flexural modulus that was much lower than that of the
homopolymer. Tournut apparently achieved this aim by forming
copolymers with a VDF homopolymer domain containing
significantly less than the at least about 50% of the
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