Appeal No. 2007-0294 Page 6
Application No. 11/050,224
and the final product appears to be no different from the products of the
prior art.” Answer 5. Appellants do not offer any explanation as to how a
liquid emulsion would be possible in the claimed “solid particulate”
composition. Moreover, we can find no statement in the specification that
the emulsion would, in fact, still exist when the PDMS is processed into its
final solid particulate form.
Appellants argue:
The inventors have surprisingly found that both polydimethylsiloxane
and clay can be admixed together and incorporated into a solid
particulate laundry detergent composition to provide a good fabric-
softening performance by using a pre-emulsified form of
polydimethylsiloxane and by selectively modifying the amounts of the
specific components in the detergent composition (page 3, lines 5-20
and page 6, lines 25-27). Accordingly, the use of pre-emulsified
form of polydimethylsiloxane in the detergent composition is not [a]
product-by-process claim limitation because it is essential for not only
admixing the polydimethylsiloxane and clay but also provides the
solid particulate laundry detergent composition with a different
property characteristic, namely improved fabric softening
performance.
Reply Br. 2-3.
We do not find that Appellants’ specification supports their arguments. On
page 3, ll. 12-16, of the specification, it is stated:
The Inventors have surprisingly found that both polydimethylsiloxane
and clay can be admixed together and incorporated into a solid
particulate laundry detergent composition to provide a good fabric-
softening performance by selectively modifying the amounts of other
specific components that need to be present in the composition.
Here, the specification indicates that “good fabric-softening performance” is
achieved by “selectively modifying the amounts of other specific components”
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