Appeal No. 1997-3376
Application No. 08/176,187
Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including
all of the opposing arguments presented on appeal, it is our
judgment that the prior art references applied by the examiner
fail to establish a prima facie case of obviousness against the
claimed subject matter. Accordingly, we will not sustain the
examiner’s rejection.
Bates discloses flexible and heat-processable conductive
films of polypyrrole, as follows:
In this communication, we report the formation of
elastic and melt-processable conductive films of
polypyrrole by another route, in which the doping
behaviour of this class of polymers is exploited.
Polypyrrole and related electro-oxidatively formed
conductive polymers such as polythiophene,
polyaniline, and polyazulene are obtained directly
in stable doped forms in which the dopant is an
anionic species derived from the electrolyte. Our
approach was to employ as dopants anionically
derivatised polymers. Improved mechanical
properties derive from the chain structure of the
dopant. This approach differs from those
mentioned above because the strengthening member
is an intrinsic part of the conducting polymer
matrix (third paragraph, left column, page 871)
(footnotes omitted; emphasis added).
Bates conducts polymerization of pyrrole by performing
electrolysis in a 2-electrode single compartment electrolytic
cell equipped for vigorous stirring, and the resulting polymer
film is peeled from the electrode (fourth paragraph, left column,
page 871). In sample 6 of Table 1 (page 872), Bates describes
the polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of 4.8 percent by
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