Appeal 2007-1899
Application 10/112,743
Claim 1 illustrates Appellants’ invention of a semiconductor member
which can be used in an electrophotographic apparatus, and is representative
of the claims on appeal:
1. A semiconductor member comprising a coating layer formed on a
surface of a substrate, wherein said coating layer comprises a conductive
agent coated with a resin having an ion previously added.
The Examiner relies on the evidence in this reference:
Yasuda US 5,604,074 Feb. 18, 1997
Appellants request review of the following grounds of rejection
advanced on appeal (Br. 7):
claims 1, 4, and 8 through 11 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by
Yasuda (Answer 3-4); and
claim 4 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Yasuda as applied in
claim 1 (id. 4-5)
Appellants argue the claims in the first ground of rejection as a group
and rely on the same arguments with respect to the second ground of
rejection (Br. 8-14). Thus, we decide this appeal based on claims 1 and 4.
37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(vii) (2005).
The Examiner contends that in the electrophotographic apparatus of
Yasuda’s Fig. 3, blade 5 and photoconductor layer 3 of photoconductor 1 are
both semiconductive members, each of which can have “a layer of toner on
its surface [and] would constitute a semiconductive member as presently
claimed” as “the toner layer would constitute a coating layer” (Answer 3 and
6). The Examiner finds the toner core comprises a resin and a coloring agent
which is a conductive agent and the toner shell “comprises ionic polymer
colloids, such as . . . resin having an ammonium ion” to which charge
control agents can be added (id. 3-4 and 5-6). The Examiner contends “the
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