Appeal No. 2005-2508
Application No. 09/874,314
of the sheet having a rubber-based PSA composition which includes
at least one species of a “broad genus” of well known tackifiers
(Answer, pages 2-3). The examiner recognizes that Dobashi fails
to specifically disclose the two tackifier species recited in
claim 1 on appeal, although Dobashi does generically teach that
the rubber-based PSA preferably contains a tackifier such as an
“aliphatic, aromatic or allcyclic [sic, alicyclic] petroleum
resin ... and those modified, for example, by hydrogenation.”
(Answer, page 3). Therefore the examiner applies EP ‘585 for the
disclosure of a similar PSA composition to that of Dobashi with
tackifiers including petroleum resins characterized as
aliphatic/aromatic, and resins made by copolymerization of pure
aromatic monomers with olefins (id.). From these findings, the
examiner concludes that it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art “aware of the wide variety of
tackifiers which are suitable for being incorporated into rubber
based pressure sensitive adhesives” to substitute the tackifier
taught by EP ‘585 for the closely related tackifier of the
rubber-based PSA composition of Dobashi (Answer, page 4). We
agree.
Appellants argue that the examiner has not set forth
sufficient motivation to combine Dobashi and EP ‘585, nor has the
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