Appeal No. 2003-0413
Application 09/148,262
Claim 15 requires that the plastic in the article of claim 1
is a polyurethane. Baumgartner does not disclose polyurethane.
Baumgartner’s teaching, however, that various thermoplastics can
be used (col. 11, line 60 - col. 12, line 18) would have fairly
suggested, to one of ordinary skill in the art, the use of
thermoplastics generally, including linear thermoplastic
polyurethanes.2 Consequently, the use of a linear thermoplastic
polyurethane as Baumgartner’s plastic would have been prima facie
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
OTHER ISSUES
The appellant’s specification states that the appellant’s
self-lubricating mold surface layer is commonly referred to as an
Endura® Series 203 coating (page 12, lines 22-24). The examiner
and the appellant should address on the record whether such a
coating, and the disclosures on the Endura Coatings website that
the coating resists wetting by most liquids and that few
materials will permanently adhere to the nonstick surface, were
known in art at the time of the appellant’s invention.3 If so,
2 See 23 Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology 576
(John Wiley & Sons, 3rd ed. 1983), a copy of which is provided to
the appellant with this decision.
3 A copy of the relevant pages of the Endura Coatings
website is provided to the appellant with this decision.
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