Appeal No. 2003-0777
Application No. 09/554,969
has been withdrawn by the examiner. Claims 22 and 24 are
objected to as being dependent upon a rejected claim (see page 3
of answer).
A copy of illustrative claim 1 is appended to this decision.
The examiner relies upon the following reference as evidence
of obviousness:
Trinh et al. (WO ‘169) WO 97/03169 Jan. 30, 1997
Appellants’ claimed invention is directed to a clear, or
translucent, liquid fabric softener composition comprising, inter
alia, a principal solvent having a ClogP within the claimed
range, and an electrolyte in an amount of from about 0.5% to
about 10% by weight. According to appellants, “[t]he utilization
of relatively high levels of electrolyte allows the utilization
of a relatively broad range of principal solvents to provide a
clear or translucent composition” (page 2 of brief, third
paragraph).
Appealed claims 1, 12-21, 23 and 25-39 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over WO ‘169.
Appellants submit at page 2 of the brief that “[c]laims 1
and 15-39 stand or fall together.” Accordingly, with the
exception of claims 12, 13 and 14, for which appellants provide
2
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