Appeal Number: 2006-2391
Application Number: 10/311,513
The Examiner has entered the following grounds of rejection:
Claims 1 and 3 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(b) as anticipated by or, in
the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. §103 (a) as obvious over Ishizaki; and.
Claims 4 and 5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103(a) as obvious over Ishizaki
and Beal. (Answer 3-5).
Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the Examiner and
the Appellants' regarding the above-noted rejections, we make reference to the
Examiner's Answer (mailed December 21, 2005) for the reasoning in support of the
rejection, and to Appellants’ Brief (filed October 10, 2005) for the arguments
thereagainst.1
OPINION
Claims 1 and 3 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(b) as anticipated by or,
in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. §103(a) as obvious over Ishizaki. We select
claim 1 as representative.
The Examiner has found that Ishizaki discloses a water absorbent resin
suitable for absorbing polymer containing viscous liquid, wherein the resin
comprises partially neutralized polyacrylic acid and graph polymers of starch-
acrylic acid as resin precursors that meet the presently claimed invention (Answer
3). The Examiner has determined that the cross-linked polymer particles have a
specific surface area of preferably not less than 0.040 m2/g (Answer 3). The
Examiner contends that Ishizaki describes a composition that comprises similar
1 Appellants' comments presented in the document filed January 30, 2006, have
been fully considered. We agree with the Appellants that the Examiner has
apparently considered the comments that were submitted in the May 24, 2005
document as indicated by the Advisory Act mailed June 21, 2005. We note the
submission of May 24, 2005 did not include amendments to the claims.
3
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