Appeal No. 2003-1525
Application 09/462,876
The appellants argue that “it is inconceivable that one
having ordinary skill in the art would have stopped the
methodology of Kawasaki et al., surgically extract the hBN
particles disclosed by Kawasaki et al. as suitable to [sic] for
sintering, and then employ them in methodology disclosed by
Suzuki et al.” (reply brief, page 6). Suzuki teaches that the
hBN particles can be used not only for sintering, but also for
making a resin and/or rubber composite (col. 9, lines 21-28;
col. 10, lines 62-62). Thus, use of Kawasaki’s hBN particles as
Suzuki’s starting material does not require stopping Kawasaki’s
sintering process and performing the surgical extraction argued
by the appellants.
As for dependent claim 10, Suzuki discloses a direct
conversion and sintering temperature of 1900-2100ēC and pressure
of at least 6.5 GPa (col. 4, lines 64-67), both of which are
within the ranges recited in claim 10.
Accordingly, we affirm the rejection of claims 9 and 10
under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over the combined teachings of Kawasaki and
Suzuki.
10
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007