Appeal No. 1997-4443
Application No. 08/246,019
The examiner relies upon the following references as evidence of obviousness:
Grummitt 2,666,752 Jan. 19, 1954
Gerow 4,115,334 Sep. 19, 1978
Yasumatsu et al. (Yasumatsu) 4,426,477 Jan. 17, 1984
Canadian Patent 621,638 Jun. 06, 1961
(Mobberley)
Appealed claims 1-9 and 14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Gerow,
Yasumatsu, Grummit, and Canadian Patent 621,638.
Appealed claims 1-9 and 14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Gerow,
Yasumatsu, Grummitt, and Canadian Patent 621,638 taken with appellants’ disclosure of
the prior art found on page 1, lines 8-20 of the specification.
We have thoroughly reviewed appellants’ arguments for patentability. However,
we agree with the examiner that the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the art within the meaning of § 103 in view of the applied art.
Accordingly, we will sustain the examiner’s rejection for essentially the reasons set forth
in the answer and as discussed below.
As indicated by the examiner (page 2 of the answer) and as stated by appellants
(page 4 of the brief), the claims do not stand or fall together. Hence, we consider claims
1, 2, 6, and 14 on this appeal Under 37 CFR § 1.192 (c)(7) (1995).
The examiner states that where the references of Gerow, Yasumatsu, Grummitt,
and Canadian Patent 621,638 do not explicitly disclose (1) at least 0.9 mol of the second
acyl group per mol of glycerin and (2) 2.7 to 3 mol of total amount of acyl groups per
mol of gylcerin, one skilled in the art would be motivated to use amounts slightly above
or below these values because various properties/characteristics of the film formed from
2
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