Appeal No. 2003-1625
Application No. 09/341,669
presupposes a core and a layer or layers having different
physical or chemical properties . . . while the description in
the specification in page 8 and in the examples indicates that
only a homopolymer or single copolymer of methyl methacrylate is
used in the present invention and this disclosure would preclude
the formation of a core/shell polymer, because there would be no
differentiation between core and shell, unless there was a
difference in physical or chemical properties between the core
material and the shell material” (brief, page 4).
Like the examiner, however, we do not consider page 8 or any
other portion of the subject specification to limit the polymer
used in the appellants’ invention to “only a homopolymer or
single copolymer of methyl methacrylate” (id.).1
Even if the appellants’ polymers were restricted to those based
on methyl methacrylate as argued, this restriction would not
preclude formation of a core/shell polymer. This is because the
homopolymer or copolymer specifically described in the
appellants’ specification may vary in physical properties such as
1Certainly claim 32 (as well as the other independent claims
on appeal) is not so limited since the recitation “a polymer
. . . comprised of . . . ” is open to the inclusion of polymers
other than those explicitly recited. See In re Baxter, 656 F.2d
679, 686, 210 USPQ 795, 802 (CCPA 1981).
8
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