Appeal 2007-2154
Application 10/374,773
Claims 1-14, 16, 17, and 39-41 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Betso.
The Examiner has found that Betso discloses a material including a
substantially random interpolymer in combination with another polymer
corresponding to the polymer constituents of Appellants’ pattern material.
For instance, Betso discloses that the interpolymer can be made from
polymerization of a vinyl or vinylidene monomer, such as styrene or alpha-
styrene together with ethylene and/or one or more alpha-olefin monomers,
such as propylene (Betso, col. 6, l. 50 – col. 12, l. 62). Moreover, Betso
discloses that the interpolymer alpha-olefin proportion can be in the range of
about 35-97 mole percent (Betso, paragraph bridging col. 11 and 12). Betso
further discloses that a useful material can be made from a mixture of the
interpolymer with another polymer, such as polystyrene (Betso, col. 12,
l. 64 – col. 14, l. 10).
The Examiner has reasonably determined that the claimed subject
matter herein is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art over
the teachings of Betso (Answer 3-6). Having considered the obviousness of
the claimed subject matter in light of Appellants’ arguments set forth in the
Brief, we determine that the claimed subject matter would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Accordingly, we affirm the Examiner’s obviousness rejection for reasons
stated in the Answer and below.
Claims 1-10
Appellants do not present any separate arguments for the separate
patentability of dependent claims 2-10 in the Brief (Br. 12). Accordingly,
we select appealed claim 1 as the representative claim on which we decide
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