Appeal No. 2006-1311
Application No. 10/101,177
for gas diffusion electrodes having porous carbon substrates.
Appellants respond in the Reply Brief that the examiner's
finding is clearly erroneous and that "neither this passage,
which discloses bonding the electrode with the ion exchange
membrane on a carbon paper substrate, nor any other disclosure
in Yoshitake et al discloses or suggests a porous carbon
substrate" (page 3 of Reply Brief, first paragraph).
Upon review of the pertinent section of Yoshitake, we find
that Yoshitake forms the electrode on a substrate of "carbon
paper." Although Yoshitake does not characterize the carbon
paper as porous, it is the examiner's determination that carbon
paper is porous. To resolve this issue we need not look to
external sources but, rather, only to appellants' specification.
In relevant part, appellants' specification discloses that a
porous carbon substrate is employed for the gas diffusion layer,
and "[a]s the porous carbon substrate, a carbon paper or a
carbon cloth may be employed" (page 9 of specification, lines
4-6). Also, appellants' specification acknowledges that carbon
paper was used in the prior art for a gas diffusion layer,
thereby indicating that carbon paper is porous (see page 2 of
specification, first paragraph). Consequently, we find
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