Patent ID: 8177858

Claim:
A laundry detergent composition comprising from about 5% to about 90%, by weight of the composition, of water and having a pH of from about 6 to about 11, wherein the composition further comprises: a) from about 0.02% to about 2%, by weight of the composition, of a polymer having a number average molecular weight of from about 700,000 to about 4,000,000 and comprising monomeric units, wherein the monomeric units are derived from monomers, said monomers comprising: i) at least 50%, by mole, of nonionic monomers selected from acrylamide, N,N-dialkyl acrylamide, methacrylamide, N,N-dialkylmethacrylamide, hydroxyalkyl acrylate and vinyl pyrrolidone, vinyl acetate, vinyl alcohol, and mixtures thereof; ii) from about 3% to about 30%, by mole, of cationic monomers selected from methacrylamidoalkyl trialkylammonium chloride, acrylamidoalkylltrialkylammonium chloride, and mixtures thereof; iii) from about 1% to about 20%, by mole, of anionic monomers selected from acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, vinyl sulfonic acid, styrene sulfonic acid, acrylamidopropylmethane sulfonic acid (AMPS), salts thereof, and mixtures thereof; wherein the overall mole ratio of the monomers, according to the following equation, mole ⁢ ⁢ anionic ⁢ ⁢ nonomer ( mole ⁢ ⁢ anionic ⁢ ⁢ monomer + mole ⁢ ⁢ cationic ⁢ ⁢ monomer ) is from 0.25 to 0.8; and b) from about 5% to about 60%, by weight of the composition, of a surfactant system comprising from about 1% to about 25%, by weight of the surfactant system, of fatty acid.