Appeal No. 2002-0322
Application 08/681,870
We determine that on this record, the examiner has established a reasonable prima facie
case of anticipation of the claimed golf ball having a cover prepared from a composition
encompassed by appealed claims 1 and 10 over Horiuchi as a matter of fact supported by
substantial evidence. The examiner finds, and we agree, that Horiuchi discloses a golf ball
wherein the core is covered by a composition wherein one of the components is “10 to 80 wt %”
of a saponified polymer obtained by saponifying at least a portion of the ester groups of a
copolymer of an olefin having 2 to 8 carbon atoms and an unsaturated acrylate having 3 to 8
carbon atoms with an alkali metal, wherein the olefin is preferably ethylene, the acrylate is
preferably an alkyl ester of acrylic acid, and the amount of unsaturated acrylate in the copolymer
is 15 to 40 wt % and the amount of saponification of the ester groups may be 10 to 40 wt % (col.
1, lines 35-46; col. 2, lines 2-18 and 28-29). Such a saponified copolymer is exemplified in
Horiuchi Table 1 by the tradename “SA420” and is “[e]thylene-ethylacrylate copolymer resin
saponified by sodium” wherein the “[e]thylacrylate = 25%” and the “[a]mount of saponification
= ca. 20%”, the saponified ethylene copolymer containing 25 % ethylacrylate groups, 20% of
which have been saponified, and constitutes 35 weight percent of the composition for a golf ball
cover in Horiuchi Examples 1 and 65 weight percent of the composition for a gold ball cover in
Horiuchi Example 2 (col. 3, lines 37-44).
The exemplified saponified ethylene copolymer falls into the requirement for such a
copolymer set forth in each of appealed claims 1 and 10 that we discuss above, and the amount of
the polymer used in each of the exemplified compositions also satisfies the parts by weight
requirements in each of these claims.
Because each of appealed claims encompass compositions that comprise at least the
specified amount of only the saponified ethylene copolymer in the claimed cover for the golf ball
without specificity as to the remainder of the composition including additional polymers as we
discuss above, we find each of appealed claims 1 and 10 to be prima facie anticipated by the
compositions of Horiuchi Examples 1 and 2 as a matter of fact under § 102(e) on this basis alone.
However, the examiner further points out, and we agree, that the golf ball cover
composition disclosed by Horiuchi further contains 20 to 90 wt % of an ionomer resin which is
obtained by neutralizing a portion of the carboxyl groups of a copolymer of 10 to 20 wt % of an
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