Appeal No. 2006-2560
Application No. 10/315,422
On pages 19 and 20 of the brief, appellant argues, that there is no motivation to
modify Ranson with Deschamps’ transparent cover sheet. Appellant asserts that “one
skilled in the art can not be assured that the thin transparent laminating sheet of the type
disclosed by the ‘576 [Deschamps] patent could successfully be used in the Ranson cover
without being scorched, distorted or damaged by the heated anvil or forming apparatus.”
On pages 19 and 20 of the brief, appellant asserts that the substitution of the Deschamps
coversheet for Ranson’s coversheet would defeat Ranson’s stated purpose of durability
and low cost. Further, on page 21 of the brief, appellant argues:
Moreover, volume purchasers such as libraries and schools would be discouraged
from laminating the Ranson cover sheet (60) with the '576 transparent sheet
because high volume use of the materials would cause the sheet to peel away
from the cover, crack and/or come loose from the outer surface of the Ranson
cover - lending to costly and time-consuming maintenance of the book collection
and/or requiring frequent replacement of the cover. Further, there is no reasonable
expectation that the Ranson cover sheet laminated with a transparent sheet layer
can be successfully formed into a flat back cover by the Ranson flat-back, casing
apparatus without damaging the transparent sheet or alternatively causing the
transparent sheet to separate, crack or peel away from the cover sheet (60) during
heated formation. Thus, such a modification clearly and unequivocally teaches
away from the present invention, which eliminates the need for lamination or UV
coatings. See Appellant's Specification, page 3, paragraph 9.
Appellant’s arguments on pages 19 through 22 of the brief have not persuaded us
of error in the examiner’s rejection. Initially we note that appellant’s arguments are
premised on Ranson teaching an opaque cover sheet, a conclusion with which we do not
agree or find to be supported by convincing evidence. As discussed supra, Ranson
teaches use of several materials for use as the cover sheet, and the examiner has provided
evidence that some of them are transparent. Ranson teaches that care should be taken in
selecting the temperature of the heating element to prevent scorching. See column 3,
lines 59 through 65. As Ranson’s selection of cover materials includes potentially
transparent materials, and there is no convincing evidence to establish that transparent
materials are any more susceptible to scorching than the similar non transparent
materials,
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