Appeal No. 1997-3485
Application No. 08/431,734
14. The examiner recognizes that Gomez does not describe
adding the claimed amount of the claimed acid to its
antihalation coating. See Answer, pages 6 and 7.
To remedy this deficiency, the examiner relies on the
disclosure of Helland. Helland discloses employing a
stabilizer, including an acid, to retard “pre-bleaching of the
dye” in a thermo-dye-bleach layer. See column 5, line 65 to
column 10, line 38. Specifically, Helland states (column 10,
lines 15-22) that:
Although addition of the above-disclosed stabilizers
of the present invention is critical, additional use
of other acids in the thermal-dye-bleach solution is
frequently beneficial. Acid retards pre-bleaching
of the dye prior to coating, during coating and in
the drying ovens; and it results in longer solution
pot life, higher D and improved shelf life of the
max
thermally bleachable coatings.
The dispositive question is, therefore, whether it would
have been obvious to include the claimed acid “having a pKa
less than 4.2 in an amount equal to at least 0.05 mole
equivalent of acid to 1 mole equivalent of base in [a] basic
antistatic agent” in the antihalation coating described in
combined disclosures of Gomez, the application and Helland.
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