Appeal No. 2002-2317
Application No. 09/025,607
comprising at least one acidic monomer, and a basic copolymer
derived from a second group of monomers comprising at least one
basic monomer (col. 2, lines 28-35; col. 2, line 42 - col. 3,
line 7). Murdock teaches that “neutral” monomers may optionally
be included when making the acidic copolymer and the basic
copolymer (col. 3, lines 8-12). This teaching indicates that the
acidic copolymer and the basic copolymer can be made in the
absence of such neutral monomers, i.e., can be made using,
respectively, solely acidic monomers and basic monomers. The
acidic copolymer and the basic copolymer can be blended in any
proportion such as 1:99 to 99:1 (col. 4, lines 49-52). The
disclosed use of the composition is for making high impact
molding resins having improved thermal stability (col. 2,
lines 36-41; col. 4, lines 56-60; col. 5, lines 20-24 and 39-42).
The preamble of the appellants’ claim 1 recites that what is
claimed is “[a] hot-melt pressure-sensitive adhesive
composition”. The examiner argues: “Hot-melt adhesive is the
intended use and as such it has no patentable significance. To
misquote Gertrude Stein, ‘a composition, is a composition, is a
composition’” (answer, page 4).
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