Inventive step
(Conclusion)
Inventive step is found.
Even if sodium alginate is well known as a thickening agent which constitutes a viscous water-based liquid, there is no sufficient evidence to find that sodium alginate was well known as a thickening agent having a film forming ability.
There is no motivation to delay generation of carbon dioxide and to impart persistence.
<Writer: Hideki Takaishi (Attorney-at-law licensed in Japan and California)>
https://www.ip.courts.go.jp/app/files/hanrei_en/678/002678.pdf