Appeal No. 1998-1674 Page 4
Application No. 08/437,712
have led one of ordinary skill in the art to choose the ingredients required by the instant claims, apart
from the many other compounds listed by Kacher, and combine them in the amounts required by the
claim.
In the rejection, the Examiner points to column 7, lines 45-56 and column 10, lines 7-20 of
Kacher as teaching a mixture of synthetic surfactants such as C -C acyl sarcosinates, C -C linear8 22 8 22
alkyl benzene sulfonates, and C -C acyl isethionates (Answer, page 4). However, Kacher, in these
8 22
passages, merely sets forth lists of various surfactants that can be used alone or combined to constitute
a bar firmness aid. Kacher indicates that these surfactants, whether used alone or as a mixture, are to
make up from about 10 to about 50 weight percent of the cleansing bar. We agree with Appellants that
there is no suggestion in Kacher of producing a bar firmness aid containing 45 to 70 percent mild
surfactant, 1.5 to 10 percent C -C n-acyl sarcosine (or salts thereof), and 0.5 to 5 percent C -C8 22 1 22
alkylaryl sulfonic acid (or salts thereof) (Brief, page 7). Kacher views the seventeen synthetic
surfactants listed in column 7, lines 45-56 as a group. Any one surfactant is replaceable by another or
a mixture of others so long at the total quantity is within the range of 10 to 50 percent by weight of the
bar. In contrast, Appellants’ claims require the presence of three specific species of surfactants, (a),
(c), and (d), in specific amounts, namely 45 to 70 percent, 1.5 to 10 percent and 0.5 to 5 percent.
These separately claimed quantities are not anywhere suggested in Kacher. The Examiner has not
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