Appeal No. 1999-2518
Application 08/722,213
ranges recited in these claims. Use of release times within the
overlapping ranges would have been prima facie obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art. See In re Malagari, 499 F.2d 1297,
1303, 182 USPQ 549, 553 (CCPA 1974). Hence, the method recited
in the appellants’ claim 11 and the composition recited in the
appellants’ claim 20 would have been prima facie obvious to one
of ordinary skill in the art over Collier.
The appellants argue that there is no teaching or suggestion
in Collier as to the level of enzyme in the wash liquor (brief,
page 6). In Collier’s example I, the enzyme is 0.00012 wt% of
the wash liquor (page 36, lines 23-25; page 37, lines 16-19),
which falls within the range recited in the appellants’ claim 11.
The appellants argue that there is no suggestion in Collier
of a peroxyacid bleach release time (brief, page 7). In
Collier’s only example in which the composition contains a
bleach, the appellants argue, the bleach is an inorganic
compound, sodium perborate, and its release is not delayed
(brief, pages 7-8). Collier, however, is not limited to its
examples. See Malagari, 499 F.2d at 1303, 182 USPQ at 553.
Instead, all disclosures in the reference must be evaluated for
what they would have fairly suggested to one of ordinary skill in
the art. See In re Boe, 355 F.2d 961, 965, 148 USPQ 507, 510
6
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007