Appeal No. 2000-1877
Application No. 08/881,457
1) Rejection based on Houghton
The examiner relies on Houghton as teaching a nonaqueous
liquid detergent in the form of a suspension of solid,
substantially insoluble particulate material dispersed throughout
a surfactant-containing liquid phase. Answer, p. 3. Houghton
discloses that surfactants include anionic surfactants, such as
the alkali metal salts of alkylbenzene sulfonic acid having from
10 to 18 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, and particulate
material including detergency builders, such as alkali metal
citrates. See p. 5, lines 28-29; p. 7, lines 20-22 and p. 4,
lines 32-34.
Appellants argue that (Brief, p. 6):
Houghton does not teach or suggest a composition that
is structured with a powder produced from co-drying an
alkali metal salt of alkyl benzene sulfonic acid with a
non-surfactant salt selected from the group consisting
of alkali metal salts of sulfates, citrates, sulfo-
succinates and mixtures thereof.
In response, the examiner points out that in a product-by-
process claim patentability is based on the product and not on
the process used to produce the product. In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d
695, 697, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985). Apparently, the
examiner is of the opinion that the claimed detergent composition
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