Appeal No. 1997-3738 Application No. 08/469,741 Based upon the record before us, we agree with appellants that the examiner has failed to establish a prima facie case of obviousness. Accordingly, we reverse the rejections at issue. We would agree with the examiner, appellants' arguments to the contrary notwithstanding, that it would have been prima facie obvious within the context of 35 U.S.C. § 103 to use the substituted peroxybenzoic acids of Brocklehurst in place of the unsubstituted perbenzoic acid of Castrantas to obtain the benefits suggested by Brocklehurst (Table I). We would even agree with the examiner that it would have been prima facie obvious, in the alternative, to combine a peroxygen compound with a suitable bleach activator containing a substituted benzoyl moiety to obtain the corresponding peroxybenzoic acid in situ, as suggested by Castrantas (col. 3, l. 11-14, 61-4). However, the examiner has not adequately explained why it would have been obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art to use a substituted BCL, in particular, as such an activator. Answer. 4Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007