Appeal No. 1996-1658
Application No. 07/792,553
Based upon the record before us, we agree with appellants
that the examiner has failed to present a prima facie case of
obviousness. Accordingly, we are compelled to reverse the
rejection at issue.
The Login reference does disclose bis-quaternary ammonium
compounds which generically encompass compounds defined by the
instant claims wherein "G" is hydrogen and "p" is 1. However,
as indicated by appellants in their brief, there appears to be
nothing in Login which would provide a person of ordinary
skill in the art with the requisite motivation to select an
asymmetric compound having a single primary hydroxyalkyl
moiety from the myriad of possible compounds covered by
Login's generic formula. Appellants' specification (p.1,
lines 10-23) suggests using the claimed cationic monoprimary
alcohol in preparing a cationic starch in order to avoid
undesired cross-linking. In contrast, Login does not even
address this cross-linking problem, let alone suggest that one
should select a monoprimary alcohol grouping, in particular,
for this or any other purpose.
The fact that a claimed compound or subgenus may be
encompassed by a generic formula disclosed in the prior art
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007