Appeal No. 2005-2522 Page 12
Application No. 09/841,453
to an inventor's attention in considering the inventor’s problem.
See In re Clay, 966 F.2d 656, 659, 23 USPQ2d 1058, 1060-61 (Fed.
Cir. 1992).
Burns is directed to imparting hydrophobic properties to
silica gels. Such a reference is not only in the general field
of the inventor’s endeavor in describing a method for treating
silica to render the same more hydrophobic but would have also
logically commended itself to an inventor’s attention in the
field of treating silica films to reduce their hydrophillic
tendencies. This is so as evidenced by Grainger wherein patentee
teaches that the polymer coatings thereof are useful in imparting
properties, such as hydrophobicity or protection against
corrosion or chemical attack to a variety of surfaces comprising
silica in a variety of diverse applications, such as glass lined
reactors, window glass, and microelectronic surfaces, that
require such protection. See, e.g., column 13, lines 9-33 and
column 14, lines 34-67 of Grainger. For reasons set forth above
and in the answer, appellants’ argument of non-analogousness is
not persuasive.
Also, appellants’ generalized contentions that the combined
teachings of the applied references would not suggest the
proposed combination is not persuasive for reasons set forth in
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