Appeal No. 2005-1104
Application No. 09/795,211
According to appellants, the invention is directed to
detergent compositions comprising a combination of boric acid or a
compound capable of forming boric acid in the composition, a
polyhydroxy compound, and a relatively high level of calcium ion to
stabilize the selected "-amylase enzyme (Brief, page 2).
Appellants state that claims 1-10 and 12-16 stand or fall
together but claims 11 and 17 are independently patentable (Brief,
page 8). Accordingly, we select claim 1 from the first group of
claims and claim 11 from the second group and decide the grounds of
rejection in this appeal on the basis of these claims alone. See
37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7)(2003); In re McDaniel, 293 F.3d 1379, 1383, 63
USPQ2d 1462, 1465 (Fed. Cir. 2002). A copy of representative
independent claim 1 is attached as an Appendix to this decision.
The examiner has relied upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
Bisgård-Frantzen et al. (B-F ‘562) 6,093,562 Jul. 25, 2000
Markussen 6,268,329 B1 Jul. 31, 2001
(filed Jun. 25, 1999)
Claims 1-10 and 12-16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
as unpatentable over B-F ‘562 (Answer, page 3). Claims 11 and 17
stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over B-F
‘562 in view of Markussen (Answer, page 5). Based on the totality
of the record, including due consideration of appellants’ arguments
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