Ex Parte George et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardDec 6, 201612664858 (P.T.A.B. Dec. 6, 2016) Copy Citation United States Patent and Trademark Office UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O.Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. UTC 016 5629 EXAMINER HUANG, CHENG YUAN ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 1787 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 12/664,858 12/15/2009 Steven M. George 44590 7590 12/07/2016 ARENDT & ASSOCIATES Intellectual Property Group P.O. BOX 2257 ACTON, MA 01720 12/07/2016 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte STEVEN M. GEORGE, ARRELAINE ALLEN DAMERON, BEAU B. BURTON, and MARKUS D. GRONER1 Appeal 2015-007642 Application 12/664,858 Technology Center 1700 Before WESLEY B. DERRICK, CHRISTOPHER L. OGDEN, and CHRISTOPHER C. KENNEDY, Administrative Patent Judges. KENNEDY, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL This is an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1, 10, and 12. An oral hearing was held on December 2, 2016. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We REVERSE. BACKGROUND The subject matter on appeal relates to flexible substrates comprising protective coatings. E.g., Spec. 1:8—9; Claim 1. Claim 1 is reproduced below from the Claims Appendix of the Appeal Brief: 1 According to the Appellants, the real party in interest is The Regents of the University of Colorado. App. Br. 1. Appeal 2015-007642 Application 12/664,858 1. A coated flexible substrate comprising a flexible substrate having a coating, wherein the coating includes a) at least two layers of an inorganic material other than silica, each of said layers having a thickness of from 10 to 50 angstroms and being produced by an atomic layer deposition process, and b) a flexibilizing layer interposed between each adjacent pair of layers of the inorganic material, the flexibilizing layer having a total thickness of from 10 to 75% of the thickness of the thicker of said adjacent pair of layers of the inorganic material, wherein the flexibilizing layer is a hybrid organic- inorganic polymer that is deposited by a molecular layer deposition process, wherein the hybrid organic-inorganic polymer is a linear or branched chain structure having metal or semi-metal repeating units which alternate with organic units, the hybrid organic-inorganic polymer having the structure [-M-Z-R-Z-]n wherein M represents a metal or semi-metal atom selected from magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, titanium, zirconium, manganese, iron, nickel, cobalt, zinc, cadmium, aluminum, gallium, indium, germanium, tin, lead, antimony or bismuth, each Z is independently a linking group that contains at least one a heteroatom, R represents a hydrocarbyl or inertly substituted hydrocarbyl group and n represents the degree of polymerization. ANALYSIS Claims 1,10, and 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Czeremuszkin et al. (US 7,074,501 B2, issued July 11, 2006) in view of Badesha et al. (US 5,116,703, issued May 26, 1992). Concerning the “[-M-Z-R-Z-]n” structure of the hybrid organic- inorganic polymer required by claim 1, in the Final Action, the Examiner refers to columns 10 and 11 of Badesha and finds, with limited explanation, 2 Appeal 2015-007642 Application 12/664,858 that Badesha’s organic-inorganic polymer would possess the claimed structure. See Final Act. 3; Ans. 3. In the Appeal Brief, the Appellants refer to column 13 of Badesha, which depicts the structure of Badesha’s organic- inorganic polymer, and argue that Badesha’s structure does not fall within the scope of claim 1. See App. Br. 5. Badesha’s structure is depicted below: ) 0 E ! I r Q™ T A A ™ O 1 s O Rs L____J i____il_______I Glassy Organic Functional Network (G) Subunit Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation