Appeal No. 1997-3609
Application No. 08/483,349
USPQ at 896. Further, the appellants have proffered no
evidence in support of their contrary view. In re De Lajarte,
337 F.2d at 874, 143 USPQ at 258. For these reasons, I
believe the examiner's Section
103 rejection is sustainable on the grounds that the appealed
claims do not exclude the diamines or triamines of the Dormish
patent and therefore do not distinguish over this reference in
the manner argued by the appellants.
Even if the appellants' claims were interpreted to
exclude the aforenoted amines, I still would sustain the
Section
103 rejection advanced on this appeal. This is because I
share the examiner's view that it would have been obvious for
one with an ordinary level of skill in the art to eliminate
from patentee's composition these amines and their attendant
function of sag resistance. Concerning this issue, it is
generally considered that it would have been obvious to
eliminate a component along with its attendant function. In
re Thompson,
545 F.2d 1290, 1295, 192 USPQ 275, 277-78 (CCPA 1976); In re
Marzocchi, 456 F.2d 790, 793, 173 USPQ 228, 229-30 (CCPA
14
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