Appeal No. 2002-1144
Application No. 09/422,633
appeal in reciting that the "acid labile groups inhibiting
alkaline solubility represent about 15 to 50% of the total of
(a) functional groups contributing to alkaline solubility and
(b) acid labile groups inhibiting alkaline solubility." On the
other hand, claim 1 on appeal is broader in scope than
representative claim 1 of the prior appeal in defining the
polymer having the functional groups which contribute to the
solubility of the polymer. Claim 1 of the prior appeal defined
the polymer as substituted or unsubstituted styrene. Also, the
present appeal includes evidence of nonobviousness that was not
presented in the earlier appeal.
Appealed claims 1-11 and 23 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 as being unpatentable over Ito in view of Ito (JPS).
Appellants submit at page 3 of the Brief that "[t]he claims
stand or fall together within each respective issue identified
above." Accordingly, all the appealed claims stand or fall
together with claim 1, and we will limit our consideration of
this appeal to the invention defined by claim 1.
We have thoroughly reviewed each of appellants' arguments
for patentability, as well as the evidence of nonobviousness
relied upon in support thereof. However, we fully concur with
the examiner that the claimed subject matter would have been
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