Appeal 2007-2191
Application 10/284,553
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The subject matter on appeal is directed to an extruded starch-based
long-lasting dog chew (Specification 1, ll. 5-10). The dog chew is made
ductile by adding an appropriate amount of a plasticizer (Specification 3, ll.
1-9). Further details of the appealed subject matter are recited in
representative claims 29, 30, and 4 reproduced below:
29. A hard, ductile, long-lasting dog chew comprising an
extruded body having from about 50-80% by weight starch
which is 95-100% gelatinized, at least a portion of said starch
being retrograded, between about 15-25% by weight plasticizer,
between about 6-15% by weight water, and less than 3% by
weight fat, said body after extrusion thereof being packaged for
a period of 3 weeks in a moisture barrier package so that
moisture escapes slowly from the package and promotes
retrogradation of said starch.
30. The chew of claim 29, said body having a length of
from 7.4-14.5 cm, a cross-sectional area of from 2.43-3.86 cm 2
and a dog chew time of from about 10-25 minutes for dogs
having a weight between 19-35 pounds.
4. The chew of claim 29, said plasticizer being selected
from the group consisting of glycerin, propylene glycol, and
mixtures thereof.
As evidence of unpatentability of the claimed subject matter, the
Examiner has relied upon the following references:
Christensen US 4,284,652 Aug. 18, 1981
Dempsey UK 2 332 850 A Jul. 7, 1999
Axelrod US 6,110,521 Aug. 29, 2000
Cheuk US 6,440,485 B1 Aug. 27, 2002
Wang US 6,455,083 B1 Sep. 24, 2002
Knigge US 2003/0044492 A1 Mar. 6, 2003
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013