Appeal No. 1999-0097
Application No. 08/532,976
is as high as 10:1. Moreover, as explained by the examiner
and acknowledged by appellants at page 7 of the principal
brief, Ohkubo exemplifies a polyurethane resin binder prepared
with 2.25 mol% of a sulfonated long chain diol in accordance
with the claimed formula. Accordingly, we find that it would
have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use
the presently claimed amount of long chain sulfonated diol in
preparing the polyurethane resin of Kolycheck. While
appellants contend that Example 4 of Ohkubo uses a second long
chain diol that results in the use of 8.27 mol% of long chain
diol components, the examiner properly points out that Ohkubo
teaches that it is the presence of the sulfonate groups which
improve the dispersion of the magnetic powder and, therefore,
significance attaches to the amount of sulfonated diol that is
used to prepare the polyurethane binder. The long chain diol
cited by appellants in Ohkubo's Example 4, Tone TM 0210, is
described by Ohkubo as a precursor to a sulfonated diol
(column 9, lines 65-68). In addition, we find claim 1 to be
sufficiently broad to embrace polyurethane resins prepared by
reacting a long chain diol of the type disclosed by Ohkubo in
addition to the three components recited in appealed claim 1.
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