Appeal No. 1997-3376
Application No. 08/176,187
of pyrrole being used in Example 4), this reference fails to
disclose or suggest the ionomeric or ionophoric block copolymer
having an ion binding segment as in appellants’ claimed
invention. Also, like Bates, Cross does not provide any factual
or scientific basis to presume that the polypyrrole would possess
the same polymer structure as recited in claim 1 on appeal.
Turning to Vincent, this reference discloses a method of
preparing “bare” dispersions of electrically conducting polymers
that do not contain significant quantities of water soluble
sterically stabilizing polymers (page 5, lines 21-28). We do not
find anything in this reference that would have motivated one of
ordinary skill in the art to modify any of the products of the
aforementioned references to arrive at appellants’ claimed
invention.
As for the three Armes patents, these references all
describe the polymerization of aromatic nitrogen-containing
monomers in the presence of a stabilizer and dopant anions
(column 1, lines 34-50 of Armes ‘162; column 1, lines 44-62 of
Armes ‘180; column 1, lines 47-60 of Armes ‘193). However, the
examiner has not explained why the teachings of these references
would have motivated one of ordinary skill in the art to make the
proposed modification of Bates.
10
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007