Appeal No. 1997-4345
Application No. 08/292,670
considered to not particularly point out and distinctly claim
the appellants’ invention as required by the
second paragraph of section 112 or to not be enabled by the
subject specification in accordance with the first paragraph
of section 112.
As a consequence of the foregoing, we cannot sustain the
examiner’s rejection of claims 1 through 9 under the first and
second paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. § 112.
In the brief and reply brief, the appellants argue that
the applied prior art does not teach and would not have
suggested the here claimed polymer having at the ends of the
polymer chain covalently bonded stable free radical groups
which are thermally labile and reversibly attachable, thereby
allowing the insertion of additional monomer components into
and consequent extension of the polymeric chain (e.g., see the
paragraph bridging pages 5 and 6 of the brief). The
independent claim on appeal does not expressly recite that the
stable free radical groups possess the aforementioned
thermally labile and reversibly attachable characteristic.
Nevertheless, it is reasonable and consistent with the subject
specification to interpret the independent claim as requiring
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