Ex Parte Qin et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jun 29, 2015

11542510 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 29, 2015)

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.
11/542,510 10/02/2006 Jian Qin 64129987US01 4255
23556 7590 06/30/2015
KIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE, INC.
Patent Docketing
2300 Winchester Rd.
NEENAH, WI 54956
EXAMINER
HAND, MELANIE JO
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3778
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
06/30/2015 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 JIAN QIN, MENGKUI LUO, S. ANANDA WEERAWARNA,
and JAMES H. WILEY
____________

Appeal 2012-011545
Application 11/542,5101
Technology Center 3700
____________

Before JEFFREY N. FREDMAN, CHRISTOPHER G. PAULRAJ, and
ELIZABETH A. LaVIER, Administrative Patent Judges.

LaVIER, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

This is an appeal pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) of the Examiner’s
rejections of claims 2, 5, 6, and 9–15. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C.
§ 6(b).
For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM.
BACKGROUND
The Specification relates to absorbent articles. (Spec. 4, ll. 23–24.)
Claim 2 is representative:

1 Appellants state Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. is the real party in
interest. (Br. 1.)
Appeal 2012-011545
Application 11/542,510

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2. An absorbent article comprising:
a topsheet;
a backsheet; and
an absorbent core disposed between the topsheet and the
backsheet;
wherein the absorbent core includes superabsorbent fibers;
wherein the superabsorbent fibers comprise substantially water-
insoluble, water-swellable, non-regenerated, carboxyalkyl
cellulose fibers;
wherein the superabsorbent fibers have a surface having the
appearance of the surface of a cellulose fiber; and
wherein the superabsorbent fibers comprise a plurality of non-
permanent intra-fiber metal crosslinks and a plurality of
permanent intra-fiber crosslinks; and
wherein the non-permanent intra-fiber metal crosslinks
comprise multi-valent metal ion crosslinks.
(Br. 9 (Claims App.) (emphases added).)
REJECTIONS ON APPEAL
1. Claims 2, 5, 6, 13, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102(a) and
102(e) as anticipated by Luo.2 (Ans. 5.)
2. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Luo
and Latimer.3 (Ans. 7.)
3. Claims 10–12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over Luo and Everett.4 (Ans. 8.)

2 Luo et al., US 2006/0137838 A1 (published June 29, 2006).
3 Latimer et al., US 6,610,903 B1 (issued Aug. 26, 2003).
4 Everett et al., US 6,710,225 B1 (issued Mar. 23, 2004).
Appeal 2012-011545
Application 11/542,510

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4. Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over
Luo in view of any one of Varona,5 McCormack,6 and Erspamer.7
(Ans. 9.)
DISCUSSION
Appellants present a single argument in favor of the patentability of
claim 2: that Luo fails to teach the claimed permanent intra-fiber cross-links.
(Br. 4–5.) Specifically, Appellants argue:
The instant application teaches the use of permanent intra-fiber
crosslinks made by crosslinking fibers with an organic
compound having at least two functional groups capable of
reacting with at least one functional group selected from
carboxyl, carboxylic acid, and hydroxyl groups. Permanent
intra-fiber crosslinks include ether, amide and ester crosslinks.
[0137][8] Luo does not teach the use of ether, amide and ester
crosslinks. The only cross-linking agents in Luo are disclosed
at paragraphs [0041] through [0073], and these paragraphs do
not include these types of permanent crosslinks.
(Id. at 5 (emphasis added).)
The Examiner relies on paragraph 32 of Luo, which discusses using
polyethelyne diglycidyl ether (PEGDE) to create crosslinks. (See Ans. 5,
10.) Although this passage in Luo is silent as to the permanence of
crosslinks made with PEGDE, the Examiner points out that the Specification
lists the same ether as being suitable for providing the permanent intra-fiber

5 Varona et al., US 6,673,980 B1 (issued Jan. 6, 2004).
6 McCormack et al., US 6,583,331 B1 (issued June 24, 2003).
7 Erspamer et al., US 6,479,415 B1 (issued Nov. 12, 2002).
8 This paragraph number appears to refer to the patent application as
published on April 3, 2008, US 2008/0082068 A1. The corresponding
paragraph occurs at page 37, lines 18–26, of the Specification as filed on
October 2, 2006.
Appeal 2012-011545
Application 11/542,510

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crosslinks in carboxyalkyl cellulose fibers. (Ans. 10 (citing Spec. 38, ll. 27–
33).) Accordingly, the Examiner concludes that “a[s] the ether is identical,
the ether crosslinks provided by the ether disclosed by Luo will be just as
permanent and stable in the presence of liquid as those disclosed by the
appellant using an identical ether.” (Id.)
We discern no error in the Examiner’s analysis, and accordingly
affirm the Examiner’s rejection of claim 2. See In re Spada, 911 F.2d 705,
708 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (“Products of identical chemical composition can not
have mutually exclusive properties.”). Claims 5, 6, 13, and 15 are not
separately argued, and fall with claim 2.
With respect to the rejections of claims 9 and 10–12, Appellants argue
the additional references do not cure the alleged deficiency of Luo. (See
Ans. 6–7.) As we were not persuaded by this argument with respect to claim
2, we are likewise unpersuaded with respect to claims 9–12, and we thus
affirm the Examiner’s rejections of these claims. Appellants do not
separately argue claim 14, and so we affirm the Examiner’s rejection of that
claim as well.

CONCLUSION
The Examiner’s rejections of claims 2, 5, 6, and 9–15 are affirmed for
the reasons of record. No time period for taking any subsequent action in
connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R.
§ 1.136(a)(1)(iv).

AFFIRMED
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