Appeal No. 1999-2159 Page 5
Application No. 08/746,953
particularly useful nonwoven continuous filament material is
polyethylene terephthalate polyester and cellulose acetate.
Balch further teaches (column 8, lines 9-15) that the sheet
material may be any of numerous materials including plastic
sheeting.
After the scope and content of the prior art are
determined, the differences between the prior art and the
claims at issue are to be ascertained. Graham v. John Deere
Co., 383 U.S. 1, 17-18, 148 USPQ 459, 467 (1966).
The examiner ascertained (answer, p. 4) that Balch does
not explicitly teach using a heat-sealable bonding method. In
our view, this is not a correct assessment of the differences
between the prior art (i.e., Balch) and the claims at issue
(e.g., claim 1). Based on our analysis and review of Balch
and claim 1, it is our opinion that the only difference is the
limitation that the wipe-off layer is "bonded to the base
sheet [sic, the heat-sealable sheet] by a plurality of
heat-seal lines extending to cross the continuous filaments
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