Appeal No. 2003-0029
Application No. 09/385,933
resistance of the microporous membrane. (Answer, pp. 4 and 8). The films of Best
are nonporous and the films of Yu’ 281 are porous. Best provides a discussion of tear
resistance, however, the Yu references are silent. There is no recognition in the Yu
references that the blow up ratio is a result effective variable for tear resistance. The
Examiner has not adequately explained why there is a reasonable expectation that the
tear resistance properties of a nonporous film would be the same or provide an
advantage to a porous film.
The Yu references and Best discuss the puncture resistance of polypropylene
and polyethylene films. The data in the present specification, page 15, shows that the
puncture resistance of the microporous film decreases as the blow-up ratio increases.
Thus, the Examiner’s arguments regarding improved durability is not supported on
this record.
The present record indicates that the motivation relied upon by the Examiner
for using an extrusion process with a blow-up ratio other than 1 to provide a
microporous film with a tear resistance in the transverse direction of at least about 50
kgf/cm2 comes from the Appellants’ description of their invention in the specification
rather than coming from the applied prior art and that, therefore, the Examiner used
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