Appeal No. 2004-2330 Page 5
Application No. 09/986,977
transparent flexible polyurethane paint can be used as the protective top coat.
According to Manabe,
[t]he thickness of the metal film is generally limited within the
range of 150-500 Å. If the thickness of the metal film is less
than 150 Å, the coverage of the metal film is insufficient so
that the substrate can be seen through the metal film. On
the other hand, if the thickness exceeds 500 Å, cracks will
probably be formed in the metal film when the molded article
is subjected to deformation [column 6, lines 10-17].
Manabe provides no teaching or suggestion of forming the metal film on the base
coat in a manner so as to permit the base coat to be seen therethrough and, in fact,
teaches that the metal film coating should be sufficiently thick to prevent the substrate
from being seen therethrough. We thus find no teaching or suggestion in Manabe to
form a metal film layer semi-transparently on a ground film-layer as called for in
appellant’s claims.
The examiner’s apparent reliance (answer, pages 6-7) on the encompassing of
Manabe’s disclosed thickness range (150-500 Å) within the broader range (50-600 Å)
disclosed by appellant on page 5 of the specification to imply that Manabe’s metal film,
like appellant’s metal film, must therefore be semitransparent overlooks that, as also
disclosed by appellant (specification, page 5), “the film thickness that will bring out a
semitransparent mirroring effect will differ depending on the type of metal used as the
target” and aluminum, the metal for which appellant discloses a thickness range of 50-
600 Å, is not one of the metals disclosed by Manabe as suitable for the metal film layer.
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