Appeal 2007-3551
Application 10/803,360
based adhesive (col. 2, ll. 33-43). Kinoshita explains that, in prior art
polyester films having undercoat layers, there was a problem of poor
adhesion between the undercoat layer and the polyester base film due to
poor compatibility (col. 1, l. 19 to col. 2, l. 15). Kinoshita solves the
adhesion problem “by use of a polyester film having a specific
construction.” (col. 2, ll. 17-21). Specifically Kinoshita selects a specific co-
extrusion laminated multilayer polyester film with a layer contacting the
coating (the A layer) having specific crystalline properties (col. 2, ll. 33-43).
The Examiner recognizes that the Kinoshita polyester film contacting
the coating does not contain polypropylene as claimed. It is the position of
the Examiner that Posey discloses a printable laminate where the oriented
base film may be made of polyester or polypropylene, those compositions
thus being equivalent, and, therefore, it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have employed
the polypropylene film, as taught by Posey, as the base film in Kinoshita
(Answer 4).
The evidence does not support the position of the Examiner. This is
because Kinoshita teaches the use of a polyester base layer with specific
properties so that it is compatible with the urethane or acrylic coating to be
applied, and the Examiner has not established that one of ordinary skill in
the art would understand the polypropylene of Posey as having the necessary
properties for obtaining the desired adhesion to the acrylic or urethane
coating. The base layer of Posey is coated with a chemically different
coating, i.e., a copolyester primer coating. Equivalency of the two polymer
compositions is not established.
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