Appeal No. 2002-1791
Application No. 08/588,945
according to the teachings of Taylor or Mellon as indicated above
are especially useful as crosslinking agents for a latex. See
Taylor, page 4, lines 12-15 and page 5, line 51 to page 6, line
42; and Mellon, page 5, line 55 to page 6, line 10. The latex
described in Taylor or Mellon, according to the examiner’s
undisputed finding, corresponds to the claimed waterborne coating
binder polymer. Compare the Answer, page 5, with the Brief in
its entirety.
Given the above teachings, we concur with the examiner that
one of ordinary skill in the art would have been led to use the
claimed aromatic polycarbodiimides as cross-linking agents
(cross-linkers) for a waterborne coating binder polymer bearing
at least two carboxylic acid groups (latex polymers) to form a
coating solution, motivated by a reasonable expectation of
strength, as a coating solution for substrates made of cellulosic
materials. See column 1, lines 14-27 and column 2, lines 39-48.
We also note that Hoeschele, like Taylor and Mellon, teaches that
these aromatic polycarbodiimides, like other polycarbodiimides,
may also react with carboxyl groups to form a coating material.
See Hoeschele, column 7, lines 35-41, together with column 2,
lines 48-52. We further note that these polycarbodiimides can
further improve their properties, i.e., their hydrophilicity
(dispersibility or dissolving characteristic), by incorporating
methoxy-capped(ethylene oxide)at their ends. Thus, one skilled
in the art interested in obtaining the advantageous properties of
the aromatic polycarbodiimides described in Hoeschele would have
been led to modify such polycarbodiimides in accordance with the
teachings of Taylor or Mellon.
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