Appeal No. 2003-0635
Application No. 09/196,818
silicone. The thrust of appellants' argument is that
"Houiellebecq fails to disclose either expressly or inherently an
insoluble hydroxyl functionalized silicone" (page 12 of Brief,
fourth paragraph, emphasis added). Although Houiellebecq
discloses that the hydroxy functional silicone derivative is
preferably a flake silicone solid, and is mixed with a
solubilizing or suspending agent, appellants maintain that "[t]he
final physical form which the hydroxyl functionalized silicone
would take in a composition of Houiellebecq simply cannot be
derived" (page 13 of Brief, second paragraph), and that
"Houiellebecq is simply silent on whether or not the hydroxy
functional silicone is prepared as insoluble" (page 13 of Brief,
third paragraph).
We do not agree with appellants' characterization of
Houiellebecq as ambiguous with respect to the physical form of
the hydroxy functional silicone derivative. Inasmuch as
Houiellebecq expressly teaches that the derivative can be mixed
with a solubilizing or suspending agent, and prepared with an
admixture of water which can dissolve or support the derivative,
we are of the opinion that one of ordinary skill in the art would
have gleaned that Houiellebecq embraces hydroxy functional
silicone derivatives which can be either dissolved or suspended
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