Appeal No. 2002-0699
Application No. 09/401,740
composition used in continuous ink jet printing (taught by
Tobias) to an ink composition used in thermal transfer or
pressure-sensitive transfer ribbons (taught by Takazawa). The
examiner has not referred to any evidence to demonstrate that the
conductivity desired in the jet printing ink composition taught
by Tobias is equally applicable to those ink compositions used in
thermal transfer and pressure-sensitive transfer ribbons, such as
the one taught by Takazawa. Accordingly, on this record, we
cannot sustain the examiner’s decision rejecting claim 6 under 35
U.S.C. § 103.
We turn next to the examiner’s rejection of claim 9 under 35
U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over the combined disclosures of
Takazawa and Ball. We find that in addition to the teachings
indicated supra, Takazawa further teaches (column 8, lines 2-6)
that:
The vehicle of solid ink for the ribbons is preferably
a vehicle composed of a wax-like substance as a main
component or a vehicle composed of a mixture of a wax-
like substance and a thermoplastic resin [polystyrene
and styrene-butadiene copolymer] as a main component.
Implicit in this teaching is that the thermoplastic resin, such
as polystyrene, can constitute 0 to a significant portion of the
vehicle of solid ink described in Takazawa, thus emcompassing the
percentage of polystyrene recited in claim 9. It follows that
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