Appeal No. 2004-0461
Application No. 09/532,371
ultimately dependent on claim 25, sets forth that the carrier may
comprise five parts of rubber, and appellants have not separately
argued claim 30 with respect to this feature. Appellants, at
page 13 of the principal brief, only argue that claims 21 and 30
recite that the phosphorescent layer is a phosphorescent pigment
and a carrier, and we concur with the examiner's reasoning that
this combination would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill
in the art.
As a final point, we note that although appellants maintain
that "[i]t has been unexpectedly found by the Applicant that when
the phosphorescent layer is applied to the surface of the non-
black rubber and tire and cured, the phosphorescent layer is
chemically adhered or bonded thereto and does not come off upon
washing, etc." (page 3 of principal brief, first paragraph),
appellants have not proffered objective evidence of unexpected
results on this record.
In conclusion, based on the foregoing, the examiner's
rejection of claims 14-21 is reversed, whereas the examiner's
rejection of claims 25-37 is affirmed. Accordingly, the
examiner's decision rejecting the appealed claims is
affirmed-in-part.
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