Appeal No. 95-0954
Application 08/058,092
leading from the granule surface to the granule interior such
that the granules have a sponge-like appearance on microscopic
examination (col. 1, lines 35-43; col. 3, lines 17-31).
Whistler teaches that the granules can be made from a wide
variety of vegetable starches including corn starch, can have
a wide range of pore sizes, can be used in powder form, and
can store liquids which are released to the surrounding medium
by diffusion at a slow rate (col. 2, lines 17-24; col. 3,
lines 17-31 and 43-58). 3
Given these teachings by Whistler, one of ordinary skill
in the art would have had a reasonable expectation that the
known ECO-FOAM porous vegetable starch likewise would be
suitable as a carrier for liquid fragrances. Thus, since one
of ordinary skill in the art would have had both a motivation
to use ECO-FOAM as a water soluble and biodegradable
substitute for polystyrene as a carrier for liquid fragrances
and a reasonable expectation of success in doing so, use of
ECO-FOAM as such a carrier would have been prima facie obvious
3 A discussion of Eden and Palinczar is not necessary to
our decision.
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