Appeal No. 2003-0060
Application 09/236,718
modified to be hydrophilic (col. 3, lines 23-31). The split
fibers can be used to make woven and nonwoven fabrics (col. 3,
lines 21-22). These fabrics have softness, drapability, good
feel to the hands, and strength (col. 5, lines 30-41; col. 10,
lines 17-25), and can be used as wiper cloths (col. 10, lines 55-
63). The particularly desirable pairs of incompatible polymers
disclosed by Pike include polyolefin-polyester and polyamide-
polyester (col. 7, line 60 - col. 8, line 10). Polyamides and
polyesters are disclosed as being hydrophilically modifiable
(col. 6, lines 7-9), i.e., in the absence of this modification
they are oleophilic.
Because Pike teaches that both polyolefin-polyester and
polyamide-polyester incompatible polymer pairs are suitable for
making nonwoven fabrics having the properties and utility desired
by Nakamura, Pike would have fairly suggested, to one of ordinary
skill in the art, using a polyamide-polyester incompatible
polymer pair as one of the alternatives to Nakamura’s exemplified
polyolefin-polyester incompatible polymer pair for making
Nakamura’s nonwoven fabric.
The appellants argue that Nakamura’s fibers, but not
polyamide-polyester fibers, are so easily split that they are
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