Appeal 2007-2551
Application 10/359,160
Accordingly, we will sustain the Examiner’s rejections for the reasons set
forth in the Answer, which we incorporate herein, and we add the following
for emphasis only.
Appellant does not dispute that the patent to Knauf, the present
inventor, discloses the presently claimed packaged ream of paper including a
wrapper comprising a paper base material, a polyethylene layer applied to
the inner surface of the base material, and a layer of P.E.I. applied to the
outer surface of the base material. It is Appellant’s contention that Knauf
does not disclose the claimed melt shield layer. However, as correctly
pointed out by the Examiner, the chipboard of Knauf may be properly
considered as the claimed melt shield layer that is applied along lanes
bordering the seal area. Knauf explains that it was known in the art that the
application of heat and pressure to the polyethylene layer may cause it to
bond with the underlying paper surface and, therefore, the reference teaches
the application of chipboard along the border of the polyethylene layer to
serve as a heat insulator which prevents the adhesion of the wrapper paper to
the paper of the ream (see Knauf, col. 5, ll. 16-23). Since Knauf specifically
teaches that the chipboard acts as a heat insulator and a heat barrier to
protect the ream of paper, we fail to find any distinction between the
reference chipboard and the melt shield layer of the claimed invention (see
also Knauf, col. 7, ll. 37 et seq.).
Moreover, we find no error in the Examiner’s reasoning that it would
have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to apply either the
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