Ex Parte STARK et al - Page 14




          Appeal No. 2002-2317                                                        
          Application No. 09/025,607                                                  


          technical reasoning which shows that any of the EP ‘082 hot melt            
          adhesives is a pressure sensitive adhesive, or explained how                
          EP ‘082 would have fairly suggested a hot melt pressure sensitive           
          adhesive to one of ordinary skill in the art.                               
               Hence, the examiner has not carried the burden of                      
          establishing a prima facie case of obviousness of the invention             
          claimed in the appellants’ claim 1 over EP ‘082.  Accordingly, we           
          reverse the rejections of claims 1-4, 7-10, 12-22, 24, 28 and 29            
          under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over EP ‘082.                                         
                                    Claims 45-48                                      
               The appellants state that claims 45 and 46 stand or fall               
          together, as do claims 47 and 48 (brief, page 10).  We therefore            
          limit our discussion to the independent claim in each group,                
          i.e., claims 45 and 47.  See In re Ochiai, 71 F.3d 1565, 1566               
          n.2, 37 USPQ2d 1127, 1129 n.2 (Fed. Cir. 1995); 37 CFR                      
          § 1.192(c)(7)(1997).                                                        
                                      Claim 45                                        
               EP ‘082 discloses a method for producing a hot-melt adhesive           
          having excellent adhesion (page 8), comprising providing a basic            
          polymer or copolymer, which reasonably appears to be a hot-melt             




                                         14                                           





Page:  Previous  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007