Appeal No. 96-2323
Application 08/116,555
control the reaction exotherm may result in the formation of
agglomerates (col. 1, lines 44-47). However, at 3
Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering 280, it is
taught that oxygen is a polymerization inhibitor. This
teaching indicates that reducing the dissolved oxygen
concentration would increase the reaction rate, which would
increase the reaction exotherm and, therefore, would tend to
increase the formation of agglomerates. The Kanda declaration
(figure 1), in contrast, shows that reducing the dissolved
oxygen concentration reduces the agglomerate formation.
The examiner argues, regarding the Kanda declaration,
that the dissolved oxygen concentration is only one of a
number of parameters which affect agglomeration (answer,
pages 12-13). This argument is not convincing because it is
not apparent why, even if agglomeration is affected by factors
other than the dissolved oxygen content, one of ordinary skill
in the art would have been led by Fan to use a dissolved
oxygen concentration of about 100 ppb or less in Fan’s
emulsion.
For the above reasons, we conclude that the rejection
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