Ex parte CALLAGHAN et al.

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Mar 14, 2002

08888042 (B.P.A.I. Mar. 14, 2002)

The opinion in support of the decision being entered today was not
written for publication and is not binding precedent of the Board.
Paper No. 18
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
_____________
BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
_____________
Ex parte IAN C. CALLAGHAN,
GRACE ABAMBA,
ROBERT KINSLEY,
TIMOTHY I. MOODYCLIFFE,
and
RICHARD P. WOODBURY
_____________
Appeal No. 2000-1038
Application No. 08/888,042
______________
ON BRIEF
_______________
Before PAK, TIMM, and MOORE, Administrative Patent Judges.
PAK, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is a decision on an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134
from the examiner’s final rejection of claims 23, 24, 27 and
28, which are all of the claims pending in the above-
identified application.
Appeal No. 2000-1038
Application No. 08/888,042
The examiner has withdrawn the rejection of claims 23,1
24, 27, and 28 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, set
forth in the final Office action dated November 17, 1998. See
Answer, page 3.
2
Claim 23 is representative of the subject matter on
appeal and reads as follows:
23. A method for cleaning limescale from a surface which
comprises applying a biodegradable aqueous acid cleaning
composition, said composition comprising iminodiacetic
acid;
from 0.2 weight percent to 6 weight percent
based on the total weight of said composition of a
thickener selected from the group consisting of
biopolymers, cross-linked polyacrylates, modified
polyacrylates, and mixtures thereof; and
an enzyme mixture, wherein said mixture
comprises a plurality of enzymes selected from the group
consisting of carbohydrase enzymes, gluconase enzymes and
mixtures thereof;
wherein said composition has a pH of 0.1-5.
The sole prior art reference relied upon by the examiner
is:
Carpenter et al. (Carpenter) 5,238,843 Aug.
24, 1993
Claims 23, 24, 27, and 28 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 as unpatentable over the disclosure of Carpenter.1
We have carefully evaluated the claims, specification,
Appeal No. 2000-1038
Application No. 08/888,042
3
and applied prior art, including all of the arguments advanced
by both the examiner and appellants in support of their
respective positions. This evaluation leads us to conclude
that the examiner’s § 103 rejection is not well founded for
the reasons well articulated by appellants in their Brief and
Reply Brief. We only wish to emphasize that the examiner has
not demonstrated that Carpenter would have suggested to one of
ordinary skill in the art to employ iminodiacetic acid in its
composition and/or to use its composition for cleaning
limescale from a surface. The examiner simply has not
supplied any evidence that iminodiacetic acid would be useful
for a composition used for cleaning a glycoside-containing
substance, such as blood, fecal matter or microorganisms, from
a surface. Nor has the examiner supplied any evidence that
such composition can be used for, or is necessarily used in,
cleaning limescale from a surface. On this record, we find no
evidence that surfaces bound with a glycoside-containing
substance are necessarily bound with limescale and that a
composition useful for removing a glycoside-containing
substance is also useful for removing limescale.
Appeal No. 2000-1038
Application No. 08/888,042
4
Under these circumstances, we are convinced that the
examiner’s § 103 rejection is fatally premised upon
impermissible hindsight. See W.L. Gore & Assocs. v. Garlock,
Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1553, 220 USPQ 303, 312-13 (Fed. Cir.
1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984). For the reasons
indicated supra, we reverse the examiner’s decision rejecting
all of the appealed claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
REVERSED
CHUNG K. PAK )
Administrative Patent Judge )
)
)
) BOARD OF PATENT
CATHERINE TIMM ) APPEALS AND
Administrative Patent Judge ) INTERFERENCES
)
)
)
JAMES T. MOORE )
Administrative Patent Judge )
CKP:hh
Appeal No. 2000-1038
Application No. 08/888,042
5
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