Appeal No. 2006-0791 Ex parte Gore Enterp. Holdings, Inc.
[3] Three independent claims remain: 1, 29, and 35.
[4] Claim 1 is (App. Br. at 30, amendments indicated using underlining for additions
and brackets for deletions):
Claim 1 (once amended): An integral air impermeable composite
membrane comprising:
a fluorinated polymeric support having a microstructure of micropores,
said microstructure defining a porosity in the range of about 70% to 98% within
said polymeric support,
at least one ion exchange resin filling and thereby occluding said
micropores of said microstructure such that said resin filled microstructure of said
composite membrane is air impermeable, said composite membrane having a
thickness of at most 0.8 mils and an ionic conduction rate of at least
5.1 µmhos/min.
[5] Independent claim 29 does not expressly require any ionic conduction rate.
[6] Claim 29 is otherwise similar, but requires "a fluoropolymer [polymeric] support
capable of processing at temperatures up to 140° C" (App. Br. at 33, original emphasis).
[7] Claim 35 substantially restates claim 1 as a product-by-process claim (App. Br.
at 34).
[8] The ionic conduction rate limitation in claims 1 and 35 also appears in those
claims as originally issued.
The rejection
[9] The examiner has held (Ex. Ans. at 2-3) all of the claims to be unpatentable
under § 103 over:
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