Appeal 2007-4307
Application 10/173,095
In this construction, uniting two resin structures together is a consolidation
of the resin. Claim 18 does not require a specific resin, but Airbus has
indicated that suitable resins include polyetherimides (PEI) and
polyetheretherketones (PEEK), although PEEK is said to be expensive.10
In construing the claim we focus on the contested limitations. Airbus
focuses its argument on appeal on the last recited step of the method.11 Had
Airbus complied with (and the examiner enforced compliance with)
37 C.F.R. § 1.75(e) (requiring the use of "improvement" format for claims
whenever possible) the briefing on appeal would have been much simpler.
For simplicity, we focus on the contested last step:
said process further comprising the step of:
- interposing before polymerizing and consolidating,
between said resin and said metallic cloth, a component adapted
for macromolecular interpenetration with said resin during
polymerization or consolidation and that increases the
mechanical and adhesive properties of the connection between
the fibers of said structural reinforcement and said metallic
cloth.
Although the claim requires this interposing step to occur "before
polymerizing and consolidating", the specification contemplates a pre-
polymerization step within the scope of the invention. 12 In view of the
comprising language in the claim and the teachings in the specification, we
construe the claim to be open to a pre-polymerizing step for the resin of the
structural reinforcement layer.
10 Spec. 5:1-14.
11 Br. 5-9.
12 Spec. 7:8-14.
4
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