Appeal 2006-3208
Application 10/097,232
Specifications. Thus, pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(b), we enter a new
ground of rejection under § 103(a).
With respect to claim 1, we frame the § 103 issue: Would it have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time Appellants’
claimed invention was made to combine the prior art conveyor lubricants,
identified by Appellants and Li, with Goodrich’s oxygen-generating agents,
i.e., photosensitizers, to destroy microorganisms?
Findings of Fact:6 Conveyor Lubricants
1. Prior art, commercial, conveyor lubricants “permit high-speed
operation of the conveyor” (Li, col. 1, ll. 14-20; Spec. 1 (“Background”)).
2. “Preferred commercially available lubricants include aqueous
lubricants and lubricant concentrates available under the LUBODRIVE, KX-
5120 and MICROGLIDE trademarks from Ecolab [and] available under the
DICOLUBE or STAR TRACK trademarks from Diversey Lever . . . ; oleic
acid, corn oil, mineral oils available under the BACCHUS trademark from
Vulcon Oil and Chemical Products . . . ; the EVERGLIDETM and
ULTRAGLIDETM series of micronized wax powders,” and others (Spec. 9-
10).
3. Li discloses lubricants in the form of aqueous liquids (e.g., col. 7,
ll. 48-51; see also Spec. 9 (describing commercial aqueous lubricants), and
in the form of nonaqueous liquids (see Br. 17 (“compositions of Li . . .
appear to be compositions primarily containing liquids other than water”);
see also Li, col. 3, ll. 1-67 & Spec. 9 (describing prior art non-aqueous
lubricants)).
6 Findings of Fact are abbreviated “FF” or “FFs”.
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