Opinion ID: 1036600
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A garment comprising a body engaging area said

Text: body engaging area comprising an elastomeric laminate comprising at least one discrete elastomeric layer and at least two discrete continuous skin layers at least one of which is a microtextured perma- nently deformed polymeric layer wherein the materials forming the elastomeric layer and the materials forming the polymeric layer are selected such that said at least one elastimeric layer and said at least one microtextured skin layer are in continuous contact. ’679 Patent col. 28 l. 61 to col. 29 l. 2. The Hanschen Patents depart from the Krueger Pa- tents in that they teach a laminate with “preferential activation zones.” As explained in the ’691 Patent disclosure, the laminates claimed in the Hanschen Patents “are capable of becoming microtextured at specified areas along the laminate length.” ’691 Patent col. 3 ll. 11-13. The microtextured areas correspond to sections of the laminate that have been “activated from an inelastic to an elastomeric form.” Id. col. 3 ll. 13-15. The Hanschen Patents thus limit elasticity to specific areas claimed as “preferential activation zones.” Claim 1 of the ’691 Patent is representative of the claims relating to “preferential activation zone.” Claim 1 states: 1. A multi-layer film laminate comprising at least one nonelastomeric skin film layer and at least one core film layer, the at least one skin film layer and the at least one core film layer together forming at least one preferential activation zone where the film laminate will preferentially elongate when stretched, wherein said at least one core film layer is substantially elastomeric, each of said core and skin layers being substantially coextensive and having relatively constant average thickness over 8 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES v. TREDEGAR CORPORATION both the at least one preferential activation zone and an at least one adjacent non-preferential activation zone such that, for a given skin or core layer, the skin or core layer thickness in one zone will be substantially the same as the same skin or core layer thickness in all zones, said at least one skin film layer and/or at least one core film layer are provided such that when the multi-layer laminate is stretched said at least one preferential activation zone will preferentially elongate and can recover in said preferential activation zone to become an elastic zone, of said multi-layer film laminate, and adjacent multi-layer non-preferential activation zones will not preferentially elongate to provide substantially inelastic zones. ’691 Patent col. 36 ll. 41-63. The claimed zone can be activated by conditions producing designated stretch ratios. The Hanschen Patents depart from the Krueger Patents in that those patents require a lower stretch ratio to effectuate stretching or activate the microtextured laminate. See ’691 Patent col. 3 ll. 34-49. In particular, the Hanschen Patent disclosure teaches that when stress is applied to a localized region, there will be preferential elasticization of the specified zone. See id. col. 3 ll. 38-58, col. 10 l. 11 (identifying methods of “post formation stress localization” or “controlled localized stretching”).