Our attempt at paper A Dishwashing product


Paper A 2017 Dishwashing product  (paper here: EN, FR and DE)


Claims
1. Dishwashing product comprising a plurality of connected pouches, each pouch comprising a different dishwashing component packaged in a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film having for each pouch a different thickness of between 10 and 50 µm; wherein the thickness of the film of a pouch is designed to release the component from the pouch during a selected dishwashing cycle.

2. Dishwashing product as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one of the dishwashing components is solid and at least one of the dishwashing components is liquid.

3. Dishwashing product as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the thickness of the film is at least 20 µm.

4. Dishwashing product as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the thickness of the film is less than 40 µm.

5. Dishwashing product as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the dishwashing component in a first one of the pouches comprises a first detergent and the dishwashing component in a second one of the pouches comprises a second, more aggressive detergent; the film of the second pouch having a greater thickness than the film of the first pouch for subsequent release of the detergents during a main wash of the dishwashing cycle.

6. Dishwashing product as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the dishwashing component in one of the pouches comprises a rinse aid and the thickness of the film of the pouch is selected to release the rinse aid only during a final rinse of the dishwashing cycle.

A 2017: first impressions of the first one-for-all A paper?

To all who sat the A-paper today:

What are your first impressions to this year's A-paper?
Any general or specific comments?
Surprising elements in the client's letter and the prior art?

How many marks do you expect to have scored?
What is your expectation of the pass rate and the average score?

How did this year's paper compare to the mock paper?
Similar difficulty level?
Did it meet expectations, in view of the video about the one-for-all A and B papers, the mock A paper and its examiners report?
Could you find the wording for claim features in the clients letter and the prior art?
Was the subject-matter well understandable, for chemists as well as e/m candidates?

The paper and our answers

Copies of the paper will be provided on this blog as soon as we have received copies of the papers, in all three languages (English, French and German).

The core of our answers will be given as soon as possible in a separate blog post.

We look forward to your comments!
Comments are welcome in any official EPO language, not just English. So, comments in German and French are also very welcome!

Please do not post your comments anonymously - it is allowed, but it makes responding more difficult and rather clumsy ("Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms Anonymous of 09-03-2017 09:09"), whereas using your real name or a pseudonym is more personal, more interesting and makes a more attractive conversation. You do not need to log in or make an account - it is OK to just put your (nick) name at the end of your post.

Please post your comments as to first impressions and general remarks to this blog.
Please post responses to our answer (as soon as available) to the separate blog post with our answer.
Thanks!