Appeal No. 1997-3354 Page 3
Application No. 08/469,809
(2) about 1-20 wt% of a chelating agent selected from the group consisting of nitrilotriacetic
acid, ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, N-hydroxyethyl-ethylenediamine triacetic acid, and diethylene-
triamine pentaacetic acid, and
(3) about 2-30 wt% of a source of alkalinity selected from the group consisting of
monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, ammonia,
ammonium hydroxide and mixtures thereof.
Claims 2, 4-6, 8, 9, 13-15, and 17-19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over U.S. Patent 5,298,195 issued March 29, 1994 to Brumbaugh. We affirm primarily
for the reasons advanced by the Examiner and add the following substantially for emphasis.
OPINION
Appellant divides the claims into two groups, one involving the composition claims and the
other involving the method claims (Brief, page 4) and presents specific, substantive reasons for the
separate patentability of each group (Brief, page 7). Therefore, we select claim 13 to represent the first
group and claim 17 to represent the second group in accordance with 37 CFR
§ 1.192(c)(7)(1995).
The Composition
Claim 13 is directed to a composition consisting essentially of (1) about 0.1-20 weight percent
of alkyl or alkylaryl ethoxy carboxylates of a particular formula, (2) about 1-20 weight percent of a
chelating agent and (3) about 2-30 weight percent of a source of alkalinity.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007