Appeal No. 2003-1928
Application No. 09/511,833
According to the Examiner, the invention of Fan fails to disclose a wax material that is
suitable as a barrier layer. (Answer, p. 4).
According to the Examiner, “one or ordinary skill in the art would have been
motivated by the teachings of Fan to use any material conventionally use[d] for release
layers to make the barrier layer of Fan.” (Answer, p. 4). The Examiner also stated that
“[w]ax, wax-like and resinous materials are conventionally used to make release layers and
are known variants in the art. This position is supported by the teachings of Chang . . .
which teaches a thermal imaging laminar medium having a release layer comprising a wax,
wax-like or resinous materials.” (Answer, p. 4).
The Examiner also relied on Shuman to provide motivation for using wax-based
materials in the barrier layer of Fan. (Answer, p. 6). Specifically the Examiner states
“Shuman establishes that wax binders and resin binders are conventionally used together in
release layers to increase the durability and abrasion resistance of transferred images”.
(Answer, p. 6).
We do not agree that the Examiner has shown that there is motivation to use a wax,
wax-like or resinous materials as the barrier layer in Fan. Fan discloses that two types of
barrier layers can be used. The first type is one which is insensitive to actinic radiation and
is soluble, swellable, dispersible or liftable in developer solutions for the
photopolymerizable layer both before and after exposure to actinic radiation. The second
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