Appeal No. 2001-2345 Page 3
Application 08/898,627
were rejected under this section of the statute with the examiner relying upon '185,
Chen, and Bashaw as evidence of obviousness.
We reverse.
Discussion
The claimed invention is directed to a containerization system which comprises a
water dispersible gel contained in a water-soluble or water dispersible bag. The water
dispersible gel comprises an ionic, water-soluble agrochemical, a crosslinked
polyacrylic acid, water, and a base. Claim 16 defines the water dispersible gel in
product-by-process format requiring that the gel be formed by mixing the agrochemical,
and crosslinked polyacrylic acid in water followed by addition of the base. Claim 22 is
in a slightly different format but still requires a reaction product of a crosslinked
polyacrylic acid and a base. Importantly, all the claims require that the water
dispersible gel have a pH in the range 6 to 10, a storage modulus (G') in the range 20-
500 Pa and a Tan * of less than 0.5.
As seen from the format of the claims on appeal and confirmed by the
specification, the water dispersible gel of the claimed invention is formed by reacting a
crosslinked polyacrylic acid with base. As explained:
It is preferred that sufficient base is added to cause the pH of the water
dispersible gel to be in the range 6 to 10, especially 6 to 8. If too much
base is added the pH of the mixture will be too high and the gel formed
will break down. Thus, in another aspect the present invention provides a
water dispersible gel comprising (a) an effective amount of an ionic, water
soluble agrochemical, (b) an effective amount of a crosslinked polyacrylic
acid, (c) water, and (d) an amount of a base sufficient to cause the pH of
the resulting gel to lie in the range 6 to 10 (especially 6 to 8, particularly 6
to 7).
Specification, page 3, first paragraph.
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