Appeal No. 2002-0663 Page 4
Application No. 09/504,963
4-5. We note that Belle-Aire teaches (page 48, second column, lines 4-8), “[a]ll
personal care products – including soaps, creams and lotions, deodorants, foot
care, baby care and hair care – can be improved by incorporating this new
technology.” Therefore, in our opinion, it would have been prima facie obvious to
a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to improve
the composition disclosed by Walters by incorporating Ordenone® as taught by
Belle-Aire. However, as the examiner points out (Answer, page 5), the
combination of Walters with Belle-Aire does not teach benzethonium chloride.
The examiner relies on Kuhns to teach a deodorant composition that
includes benzethonium chloride, carriers and colorants. Answer, page 6.
According to the examiner,
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at
the time the invention was made to add Kuhns’ composition to the
combined composition [of Walters and Belle-Aire] to arrive at a new
composition to be applied to humans comprising said soya,
benzethonium chloride, and Ordenone[®]. One having ordinary
skill in the art would have been motivated to do this because all
three prior art references individually disclose a composition that
can be employed as a human deodorant and because each prior
art reference teaches its composition reacting directly with malodor
compounds (amines, sulfides, mercaptans) secreted by the body to
reduce or eliminate malodor.
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