Appeal No. 2004-2233
Application No. 10/100,331
either Masuda or Michels. (Answer at 4-7.) 1
We reverse the rejection based on Masuda but affirm the
rejection based on Michels for the reasons well stated in the
answer.2
We consider first the rejection based on Masuda. Masuda
teaches an aqueous dispersion of a vinyl copolymer resin solution
in water, the vinyl copolymer resin solution being obtained by
polymerizing 1-15 parts by weight of a polyoxyethylene-containing
hydrophilic monomer in which the polyoxyethylene moiety has an
average molecular weight of 2,000 to 10,000, 85-99 parts by
weight of at least one specific polymerization vinyl monomer, and
0-5 parts by weight of á,â-unsaturated carboxylic acids, salts
thereof, or anhydrides thereof in an organic solvent. (Column 2,
lines 1-12.) According to Masuda, triethylammonium methacrylate
may be used as a comonomer. (Column 3, lines 35-42; Example 13.)
Masuda further teaches that the structure of the polyoxyethylene
1 The final rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) of the
appealed claims over U.S. Patent Nos. 4,735,991 issued to Guioth
et al. on Apr. 5, 1988, 4,943,612 issued to Morita et al. on Jul.
24, 1990, and 5,312,863 issued to Van Rheenen et al. on May 17,
1994 have been withdrawn. (Answer at 3.)
2 The appellant submits that “the [appealed] claims stand
or fall together.” (Appeal brief filed Mar. 15, 2004, p. 2.) We
therefore select claim 1 as representative and confine our
discussion to this representative claim. See 37 CFR §
1.192(c)(7)(2003)(effective Apr. 21, 1995).
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007