DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/7/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Any rejections and/or objections made in the previous Office action and not repeated below are hereby withdrawn.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites “the modified polyolefin resin does not comprise a polyoxyethylene alkylamine”. The specification discloses a dispersion composition comprising a modified polyolefin resin and a surfactant such as polyoxyethylene alkylamines. The specification does not support the modified polyolefin resin comprises a surfactant.
Claims 1-2, 4-7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “the modified polyolefin resin does not comprise a polyoxyethylene alkylamine”. It is unclear how a modified polyolefin resin comprises another compound. A compound itself does not comprise another compound. Therefore, it is inherent a modified polyolefin resin does not comprise a polyoxyethylene alkylamine.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 1-2, 4-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagaoka et al (US 2011/0112229).
Claim 1-2, 4-6: Nagaoka teaches a polypropylene is modified with a polarity imparting agent such as maleic anhydride and lauryl methacrylate, then reacts with a basic compound such as 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, and then water is added into the mixture (0041-0056, 0083, examples). The PP contains at least 60mol% propylene [0039].
The graft weight of the unsaturated carboxylic acid in the modified polypropylene is 0.1-20 wt%, it is up to 2mmol/g of maleic anhydride or 4 mmol/g of carboxylic acid groups [0047]. The final pH of the dispersion resin composition can be maintained at 6-10 [0083]. Therefore, up to 100 mol% of carboxylic acid react with the basic substance to form amide group before water is added into the mixture [examples]. The resulting amino alcohol modified polypropylene has up to 4 mmol/g of amide group, which equals to 7mol% of amide group per mol of methylene (4mmol/(0.8/14), 0.8 is the modified polymer containing 80wt% of propylene. When considering the presence of acrylate monomer, the maximum mol% of amide group per mol of methylene is higher). Case law holds that in the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990).
Claim 7: the weight average molecular weight of modified propylene polymer can be 70,000 [0131]. Addition of the basic compound would slight change the Mw.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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/WENWEN CAI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763