Appeal No. 2005-1438 Application No. 10/027,433 and silica gel) carrying silver corresponding to the claimed antimicrobial agent. See column 3, lines 22-32. The above antibacterial and anti-fungal glaze composition is said to be useful in meeting the increasing sanitary requirement for ceramic products, such as ceramic tiles, since “the conventional glaze does not inherently possess anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties . . . . ” See column 1, lines 34-63. Given the above teachings, we concur with the examiner that one of ordinary skill in the art would have been led to use the antibacterial and anti-fungal glaze composition, inclusive of the claimed antimicrobial agent (e.g., metal containing ion-exchange compounds) taught by Oku, with a conventional glaze, such as the one taught by Deith, in the form of a sol-gel, motivated by a reasonable expectation of successfully obtaining the benefits of both the sol-gel glazing method taught in Deith and the antibacterial and anti-fungal glaze composition taught in Oku. The nature of the problem in the art, i.e., the sanitary problem associated with ceramic products, such as ceramic tiles, would also have led one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the antibacterial and anti-fungal glaze composition taught in Oku in the sol-gel glazing process described in Deith. 6Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007