Appeal No. 1998-0306
Application No. 08/450,227
40. A pressure sensitive adhesive comprising the reaction product of an
activatable, polymeric, composition obtained after exposure to an activating
treatment, wherein said activatable composition is non-tacky prior to
exposure to the activating treatment.
The references relied upon by the examiner as evidence of obviousness are:
Skoultchi et al. (Skoultchi) 4,069,123 Jan. 17, 1978
Mallya et al. (Mallya) 5,011,867 Apr. 30, 1991
Claims 40-44, 46-48 and 51–55 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Skoultchi, and claim 45 is correspondingly rejected over this reference
and further in view of Mallya.
These rejections cannot be sustained.
As correctly argued by the appellants in their brief and reply brief, Skoultchi contains
no teaching or suggestion of the here claimed pressure sensitive adhesive wherein the
activatable composition is non-tacky prior to exposure to the activating treatment. On the
contrary, Skoultchi repeatedly teaches that his UV treatment improves cohesive strength
without sacrificing the tack of his compositions (e.g. see lines 63-66 in column 1 and lines
7-19 in column 2). Indeed, the tables for examples
I and II of this reference plainly reveal that patentee’s adhesive possesses tack prior to
UV exposure. In short, we are unable to perceive any merit in the examiner’s position that
the Skoultchi reference teaches or would have suggested a pressure
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