Ex Parte Leininger et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

May 23, 2013

12310817 (P.T.A.B. May. 23, 2013)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARKOFFICE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
12/310,817 06/25/2009 Stefan Leininger 7601/20450 9985
66991 7590 05/23/2013
LAW OFFICE OF MICHAEL A. SANZO, LLC
15400 CALHOUN DR.
SUITE 125
ROCKVILLE, MD 20855
EXAMINER
ASDJODI, MOHAMMADREZA
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
1767
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
05/23/2013 PAPER
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________________

BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
________________

Ex parte STEFAN LEININGER,
HARALD JAKOB, and ULRIKE KOTTKE
________________

Appeal 2012-002399
Application 12/310,817
Technology Center 1700
________________

Before TERRY J. OWENS, PETER F. KRATZ, and
MICHAEL P. COLAIANNI, Administrative Patent Judges.

OWENS, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

Appeal 12-002399
Application 12/310,817

2

STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s
rejection of claims 10-29, which are all of the pending claims. We have
jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
The Invention
The Appellants claim coated sodium percarbonate particles and claim
detergent and cleaning compositions comprising the particles. Claim 10 is
illustrative:
10. Coated sodium percarbonate particles, comprising a core of
sodium percarbonate obtainable by fluidized bed buildup granulation, and a
coating layer comprising sodium sulfate and sodium carbonate, wherein the
coating layer comprises sodium sulfate and sodium carbonate in a weight
ratio of from 95:5 to 75:25 and the proportion of sodium sulfate and sodium
carbonate in the coating layer is at least 80% by weight.

The References
Schütte US 6,113,805 Sep. 5, 2000
Wasserman US 6,900,169 B2 May 31, 2005
Rabe US 2006/0148670 A1 Jul. 6, 2006
The Rejections
The claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as follows:
claims 10, 11, 13-18, 20-25, and 27-29 over Schütte in view of Wasserman
and claims 12, 19, and 26 over Schütte in view of Wasserman and Rabe.1
OPINION
We reverse the rejections.

1 In the statement of the rejection over Schütte in view of Wasserman the
Examiner erroneously includes claim 19 and omits claim 28 (Ans. 4-6).
Appeal 12-002399
Application 12/310,817

3
The Appellants’ claims require a coating layer comprising sodium
sulfate and sodium carbonate in a 95:5 to 75:25 weight ratio.
Schütte discloses “coated sodium percarbonate particles consisting
essentially of a core of sodium percarbonate produced in the aqueous phase
by crystallization and a firmly adhering, two-layer coating surrounding this
core, applied by a fluidized bed spray process, the inner layer consisting
essentially of sodium percarbonate and the outer layer consisting essentially
of sodium sulphate, which may be partially hydrated” (col. 2, ll. 45-51). The
coated sodium percarbonate particles “may be used as bleaching component
in detergents, cleaning agents, bleaches and disinfectants” (col. 4, ll. 54-57)
and “are distinguished by high active oxygen stability in detergents and also
by high abrasion resistance and good silo storage properties” (col. 1, ll. 12-
15). Schütte indicates that when sodium percarbonate particles are coated
with a single layer containing sodium silicate, sodium sulfate and sodium
carbonate the particles’ active oxygen content decreases too strongly during
prolonged storage in the presence of detergent powder (col. 2, ll. 1-6).
Wasserman discloses coated detergent granules wherein the coating
can contain a non-hydrated material which preferably is a double salt of
sulfate and carbonate having the formula MSO4:MCO3 and a molar ratio of
MSO4 to MCO3 of about 90:10 to about 10:90 (col. 7, ll. 35-67). The
coating provides the detergent granules with improved surface, appearance
and flow properties and reduced lumping and caking (col. 1, l. 62 – col. 2,
l. 4). Wasserman is silent as to any effect of the coating material on loss of
active oxygen.
Appeal 12-002399
Application 12/310,817

4
The Examiner argues that one of ordinary skill in the art would have
used Wasserman’s single layer MSO4/MCO3 coating on Schütte’s sodium
percarbonate particles in view of Schütte’s disclosure that in the context of
developing sodium sulfate-coated sodium percarbonate particles with good
active oxygen stability it was considered necessary for the sodium sulfate to
be in the form of mixed salts or to be a component of a multicomponent
composition (col. 4, ll. 37-44) (Ans. 6-7).
Establishing a prima facie case of obviousness requires an apparent
reason to modify the prior art as proposed by the Examiner. See KSR Int’l
Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 418 (2007).
The Examiner has not established that in view of Schütte’s indication
that a single coating layer comprising sodium sulfate and sodium carbonate
does not provide sodium percarbonate particles with adequate stability
against loss of active oxygen (col. 2, ll. 1-6) and Wasserman’s silence as to
any effect of Wasserman’s detergent granule coating material on loss of
active oxygen, one of ordinary skill in the art would have had an apparent
reason to use Wasserman’s single layer comprising sodium sulfate and
sodium carbonate to coat Schütte’s sodium percarbonate particles which
must have high active oxygen stability in detergents (col. 1, ll. 10-13).2
Accordingly, we reverse the Examiner’s rejections.

2 The Examiner does not rely upon Rabe for any disclosure that remedies the
above-discussed deficiency in Schütte and Wasserman (Ans. 6).
Appeal 12-002399
Application 12/310,817

5
DECISION/ORDER
The rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 of claims 10, 11, 13-18, 20-25,
and 27-29 over Schütte in view of Wasserman and claims 12, 19, and 26
over Schütte in view of Wasserman and Rabe are reversed.
It is ordered that the Examiner’s decision is reversed.
REVERSED

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