Appeal No. 2006-0868
Application No. 10/005,846
The Examiner maintains two rejections on appeal. Claims 1-3 and
6-11 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Kondo.
Claims 4 and 5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated
by or in the alternative under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being obvious over Kondo.
A copy of each of these claims is set forth in the attached appendix.
The Examiner relies upon the following reference as evidence of
unpatentability:
Kondo (as translated) JP 10-017694 Jan. 20, 1998
We specifically address the rejection of claims 1-3 and 6-11 under
35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Kondo. Claim 1 recites an
elastomer amount of “less than 10 percent by blend weight.” Claims 2 and
10 each recites an elastomer amount of about 2 to 10 percent by blend
weight. Claims 3, 8, and 11 each recites an elastomer amount of about 3 to 7
percent by blend weight.
Kondo teaches an elastomer amount of “no more than 30%” (Kondo,
para. 13).
On pages 3-4 of the Reply Brief, Appellants raise the issue that there
is no rejection of claims 1-3 and 6-11 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. At the top of
page 4, Appellants point out that the claim (claim 1, e.g.) recites an
elastomer amount of “less than 10 percent by blend weight.”
While Appellants focus on the preamble of the claim regarding an
increase in mechanical strength, we remand this application to the Examiner
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