Appeal No. 2006-0438
Application No. 10/319,905
additives, such as vitamins which act as conditioning substances.
As recognized by the examiner, and emphasized by appellants, Gast
does not expressly teach that the vitamin is the particular
species claimed, namely, vitamin B6 or a derivative thereof.
However, the examiner correctly points out that Lindenbaum
discloses the use of a hair treating formulation comprising
pyridoxine, a vitamin that is encompassed by the claimed formula.
Lindenbaum teaches that the formulation comprising pyridoxine
enhances the growth of hair and restores hair color.
Accordingly, based on the combined teachings of Gast and
Lindenbaum, we fully concur with the examiner that one of
ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to select
pyridoxine as the vitamin additive in the hair treating
composition of Gast with a reasonable expectation of enhancing
the growth of hair and restoring hair color.
We are not persuaded by appellants’ argument that Gast lists
vitamins in a “laundry list” of optional ingredients. The
inclusion of conditioning agents in preparations treating hair
are notoriously well known in the art, and the list of
conditioning substances disclosed by Gast is rather limited,
including only cationic resins, lanolin derivatives, cholesterol,
vitamins, pantothenic acid and betaine (see column 5, lines 53-
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