Appeal No. 2005-0037
Application No. 09/790,759
However, we fully concur with appellants that Trinh fails to
teach or suggest the presence of claimed component (B), namely,
an aliphatic carboxylic acid of 8 to 24 carbon atoms. As
stressed by appellants and acknowledged by the examiner, Trinh
discloses the use of salts of a carboxylic acid and a tertiary
alkylamine (see column 21, lines 36-44).
A carboxylic acid salt is simply not the same as, or
equivalent to, a free aliphatic carboxylic acid, as presently
claimed. While the examiner maintains that Trinh "implies that
these acid salts are ionized in the aqueous medium to generate
free acids in the aqueous softening composition" (sentence
bridging pages 5 and 6 of Answer), the examiner has not provided
the requisite factual support for this speculation. We agree
with appellants that Trinh provides no teaching or suggestion
that the carboxylic acid salts are definitely dissolved in
aqueous-based compositions, and "no disclosure that, if
dissolved, they would 'generate free carboxylic acids'" (page 8
of Brief, second paragraph).
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