Appeal No. 2002-1551
Application No. 09/286,386
for disclosing photochromic printing inks, and concludes that it
would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art "to
substitute the photochromic materials of Amon for the dyes and
pigments of Hwang motivated by the expectation that additional
feature [sic, features] would be obtained and to expand the
utilities of the Hwang inks" (sentence bridging pages 5 and 6 of
Answer).
The flaw in the examiner's rationale is that there is no
teaching or suggestion in the combined references that the
photochromic materials of Amon would be compatible in the ink
compositions of Hwang. As urged by appellants, "Amon does not
disclose using a water-repelling agent with these photochromic
materials,"1 and "[o]ne skilled in the art would not have a
reasonable expectation that the ink components of Amon would be
compatible with those of Hwang in that Hwang requires the use of
an alkaline agent such as sodium hydroxide in the inks
disclosed."2 As emphasized by appellants, Amon encapsulizes the
photochromic material for protection from the activation by
oxygen and detrimental chemical influences, particularly ionic
ones. Significantly, the examiner has not explained why one of
1 Page 4 of principal brief, second paragraph.
2 Page 5 of principal brief, second paragraph.
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