Appeal No. 2004-2278 Page 5
Application No. 09/302,471
or persuasive reasoning indicating that the partial polycondensate of TMOS would meet the
requirements of the chemical formula recited in claim 7. We further cannot agree with the
Examiner that the polyalkoxy silane required by claim 7 is necessarily present in the solution of
Takei as unreacted monomer. Takei provides no information on the origin of the partial
polycondensate nor its purification level. We also note that the step of claim 7 is a step of
dissolving. The Examiner has provided no evidence that the partial condensate of TMOS is in
solid form such that it dissolved when mixed with alcohol and the other ingredients as described
by Takei.
In step (b) of claim 7, polyalkoxy silane is reacted to form an organopolysiloxane and, in
step (c), the first organic solvent, which is an alcohol solvent, is replaced with a second organic
solvent, which is an aprotic polar organic solvent, to obtain a solution with a concentration of 5-
25 wt.% organosiloxane calculated as SiO2. According to the specification, dimethylformamide,
or as referred to by the Examiner, DMF, is an aprotic polar organic solvent.
The Examiner has not provided sufficient evidence that Takei replaces a first solvent,
which is an alcohol solvent, with a second solvent, which is an aprotic polar organic solvent, as
claimed. According to the findings of the Examiner “[d]uring processing the composition passes
through 5-25% by weight silane condensate in terms of SiO2 during drying wherein the alcohol
solvent is volatilized and replace [sic] with DMF” (Answer, p. 3). This does not meet the
requirements of claim 7 because DMF is contained in the first solvent. Volatilization of the
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