Appeal No. 2005-0407
Application No. 09/888,246
prepare it, and by washing the product with water or organic
solvents (col. 4, lines 64-66; col. 5, lines 9-37). Applying to
the product at least one high temperature aromatic solvent
treatment reduces the yellowness index of the product to the
range of about 1 to 8 (col. 1, lines 52-64; col. 4, lines 54-56;
col. 5, line 56 - col. 6, line 6). Mack indicates that after the
product is dried to remove residual solvent, the product can be
roasted or oven aged at temperatures above about 200ºC to improve
the its color (col. 5, lines 58-61; col. 7, lines 31-37).3 The
yellowness indexes of Mack’s exemplified products that were dried
but not roasted are 45 and 73.4 (examples 1 and 5), and the
yellowness index range of Mack’s exemplified products that were
dried and roasted is 10 to 16.1 (examples 2-4 and 9). The
yellowness index range of the appellants’ exemplified products
3 The examiner argues that “the temperature at which the
claimed product is dried is similar to the temperature at which
the prior art product is oven-roasted, 205ºC versus 200ºC
respectively” (answer, page 5). This argument is not well taken
because Mack’s oven roasting time is 30 minutes to 9 hours
(examples 2-4 and 9), whereas the appellants’ wet cake drying
time is 2 seconds (specification, page 17, paragraph 0064). The
examiner also argues that “[b]ased on the teachings of the prior
art and the present disclosure, it is obvious that high
temperatures, for example, roasting, are utilized in the removal
of excess bromine and, thus, improvement in the color
characteristics of the brominated product” (answer, page 5).
Mack does not mention removal of excess bromine, and the examiner
has not established that the relied-upon disclosure in the
appellants’ specification is prior art.
3
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