Appeal No. 2002-1791 Application No. 08/588,945 Claim 26 is reproduced below: 26. A method of crosslinking a waterborne coating binder polymer bearing at least two carboxylic acid groups comprising admixing said polymer and an aromatic polycarbodiimide having the formula H3C-O-{-CH2CH2-O}3-C(O)N(H)-[R-N=C=N-]n-R’-N(H)C(O)- {O-CH2CH2-}p-O-CH3 wherein m is an integer of from 5 to 10; n is an integer of from 2 to 7; p is an integer of from 5 to 10; and R and R’ are independently selected from arylene, alkyl-substituted arylene, biarylene alkylene or alkyl-substituted biarylene alkylene. The prior art references relied upon by the examiner are: Hoeschele 3,450,562 Jun. 17, 1969 Taylor EP 0 241 805 A2 Oct. 21, 1987 (Published European Patent Application) Mallon EP 0 277 361 A1 Aug. 10, 1988 (Published European Patent Application) Claims 26 and 27 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over the combined disclosures of Hoeschele and either Taylor or Mallon. We have carefully reviewed the claims, specification and applied prior art, including all of the arguments advanced by both the examiner and the appellants in support of their respective positions. This review has led us to conclude that the examiner’s Section 103 rejection is well founded. 2Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007