Appeal No. 1998-2523
Application No. 08/778,644
bromide and 30 ml/l of hydrobromic acid. The pH of the composition was adjusted to
5.7. (Col. 13, ll. 57 to 64.)
The Examiner has failed to determine that the bleaching compositions of
either Ishikawa or Okauchi contain the required amount of components such as ferric
complex of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and bromide ion to anticipate or render
obvious the claimed invention. The Examiner asserts the bleaching regenerator can be
present in an infinitesimal amount that would not provide sufficient regeneration of
the overflown bleaching composition. (Answer, p. 4.) We do not agree. The
Examiner is reminded that the claimed invention is read in view of the specification as
it would be interpreted by one of ordinary skill in the art. See Morris, supra. The
specification page 9 discloses the ratio of bleaching composition overflow to bleach
regenerator composition ranges from at least 1:1 up to about 9:1. Thus, the
measurable amounts of bleaching regenerator composition would be contained in the
final product. The fact that both Ishikawa and Okauchi describe a bleaching solution
that contain ferric complex of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and have a pH of 5.5 or
5.6, respectively, does not anticipate the claimed invention since the claimed
invention contains additional components derived from the bleaching regenerator
composition.
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