Appeal 2007-2853
Application 10/255,922
INTRODUCTION
Appellants claim a nacreous polymer sheet that is used as base
material for photographic reflective paper (claim 1; Specification 1:5-6).
Claim 1 is illustrative:
1. A nacreous polymer sheet comprising voided polyester polymer
wherein said sheet has a matrix of polyester encompassing voids in said
sheet and has voids of a length to height ratio of between 10:1 and 100:1,
voids of a length of between 5 and 100 micrometer, a number of voids in the
vertical direction of greater than 6, said sheet has a roughness average of less
than 0.4 micrometers, and wherein said polymer sheet has a FLOP value of
between 45 and 100.
The Examiner relies on the following prior art references as evidence
of unpatentability:
Ashcraft US 4,377,616 Mar. 22, 1983
Kent US 5,811,493 Sep. 22, 1998
The rejection as presented by the Examiner is as follows:
Claims 1, 2, 4-15, 20, 21, and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kent in view of Ashcraft.
Appellants argue claim 1 only. Accordingly, claims 2, 4-15, 20, 21, and
39, which directly or ultimately depend from claim 1, stand or fall with
claim 1.
OPINION
Appellants argue that Kent and Ashcraft are not properly combinable
and the Examiner has provided no explanation as to how such proposed
combination would result in the presently claimed invention (Br. 2-3).
Specifically, Appellants argue that the surface roughness of Kent’s voided
film is higher than Appellants’ claimed “roughness average of less than 0.4
2
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