Appeal No. 2007-0360 Page 2
Application No. 11/050,001
known to impart a fabric-softening benefit to the laundered fabric. Id. at 1: 20 to
2:6.
“[P]olydimethylsiloxane is the preferred silicone component for
incorporation into a solid particulate laundry detergent composition to provide a
fabric-softening benefit.” Id. at 2: 33-34. “However, the unsubstituted nature of
the polydimethylsiloxane also means that it is a highly hydrophobic material. In
addition, the polydimethylsiloxane is in the form of a fluid at ambient conditions,
and cannot simply be dry-added to a solid particulate laundry detergent
composition; a suitable solid carrier material must be used. Clay is the most highly
preferred solid carrier material for polydimethylsiloxane.” Id. at 3: 5-9. “However,
due to the very high hydrophobic nature of the polydimethylsiloxane, when the
polydimethylsiloxane is admixed with a clay, the resultant particulate admixture is
rendered hydrophobic, which leads to a poor fabric-softening profile.” Id. at
3: 11-14. With this as background, Appellants conclude: “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.” Id. at 3:
16-20.
DISCUSSION
Claims 1-17 and 19-26, all the pending claims, are on appeal. Br. 2. All the
claims are rejected over the same prior art reference. Br. 5. Appellants have
provided separate arguments for the patentability of the following groups of
claims: 1) claims 1-9, 12-16, and 19-24; 2) claim 10; 3) claim 11; and 4) claims
17, 25, and 26. We address each grouping separately.
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