Appeal 2006-2335
Application 09/851,460
claim and any intervening claims (Answer 2).1 We have jurisdiction
pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134.
According to Appellants, the invention is directed to a multilayer
barrier film which has a paper-like appearance and is suitable for thermo-
forming and sealing, particularly on form-fill-seal (FFS) machines, so that
the multilayer barrier film can be easily processed into packages for
perishable foods (Br. 1). Independent claim 1 is illustrative of the invention
and is reproduced below:
1. A multilayer barrier film comprising a filled layer based on
polypropylene and a plurality of unfilled layers, wherein the filled
layer is filled with 40-75 weight %, based on the total weight of the
filled layer, of an inorganic filler, forms one of the two surface layers
of the film, and has a thickness of 40 µm to 400 µm, the unfilled
layers comprising at least a barrier layer and sealing layer and
optionally at least one adhesive layer, and the ratio of the total
thickness of the unfilled layers to the thickness of the filled layer
being from 1:8 to 1:1.2, wherein the sealing layer forms the other of
the two surface layers of the film and the barrier layer is sandwiched
between the filled layer and the sealing layer.
The Examiner has relied on the following references as evidence of
obviousness:
Farrell US 4,526,823 Jul. 02, 1985
Hattori US 4,567,089 Jan. 28, 1986
Miyazaki US 4,578,296 Mar. 25, 1986
Blemburg US 5,108,844 Apr. 28, 1992
Bochow US 5,449,552 Sep. 12, 1995
Rosen US 5,635,011 Jun. 03, 1997
1 We refer to and cite from the substitute Examiner’s Answer dated Feb. 01,
2006.
2
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