Appeal No. 2006-1761
Application No. 10/153,074
8). Appellants further argue that Koschany does not indicate
what type of silicone seal should be used out of possibly
thousands of silicones, and there is no motivation to single out
the sealant of Kovar from among all the references as a sealant
for fuel cells, thus at best rendering use of the Kovar sealant
in fuel cells “‘obvious to try’” (Brief, pages 10-11; Reply
Brief, page 3).
Appellants’ arguments are not persuasive. As admitted by
appellants (specification, page 2; Brief, page 8; Reply Brief,
page 2), the use of silicones in general as sealants for fuel
cell components was well known in the art. Koschany teaches 2
that conventionally sealing rings or strips are used to provide
reliable sealing of the gas spaces from each other in fuel cell
components (col. 1, ll. 58-61; col. 2, ll. 25-27). Although
Koschany discloses silicones as one of several possible sealant
materials (col. 4, ll. 9-11 and 39; col. 8, ll. 7-10), with
2We note the presentation of claim 18 in Jepson-type format, thus
impliedly admitting the preamble as prior art. See In re
Aldrich, 398 F.2d 855, 857, 158 USPQ 311, 312 (CCPA 1968); In re
Ehrreich, 590 F.2d 902, 909, 200 USPQ 504, 510 (CCPA 1979).
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007