DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
3. Claim(s) 1, 20, and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugimoto (EP 2,345,693, newly cited) and further in view of Tanabe (JP 2017-110161, of record).
Sugimoto teaches a tire innerliner comprising 70-99 phr of halogenated butyl rubber, 1-30 phr of modified natural rubber, 5-80 phr of carbon black (reinforcing filler), and 5-100 phr of silica (reinforcing filler) (Paragraphs 1, 27-29, 33, and 37).
In such an instance, though, the innerliner composition of Sugimoto is devoid of a terpolymer resin including ethylene, acrylic ester, and maleic anhydride (claimed resin).
Tanabe is similarly directed to tire rubber compositions and teaches the inclusion of the claimed terpolymers (3-28 phr) to promote low heat buildup properties. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to include said terpolymer in the innerliner composition of Sugimoto for the benefits detailed above. It is further noted that Sugimoto includes the following language:
The rubber composition can be used for a structural member constituting a pneumatic tire. Examples of the structural member include a tire tread portion, a sidewall portion, a bead portion, and a carcass portion.
This language suggests that one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to include the claimed terpolymer in any number of tire components, including the innerliner composition of Sugimoto (benefit of improved heat buildup properties would have been desired in a tire innerliner). A fair reading of Tanabe does not limit the tire components to the exemplary tire components of Tanabe.
4. Claim(s) 21 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugimoto and Tanabe as applied in claim 1 above and further in view of Sandstrom (US 4,790,365, of record).
As detailed above, Sugimoto is directed to an innerliner composition comprising halogenated butyl rubber and a minor portion of natural rubber. The composition of Sugimoto, however, is devoid of syndiotactic polybutadiene (SPBD).
Sandstrom is similarly directed to a tire innerliner composition (Column 5, Lines 5+). Sandstrom states that compositions with large loadings of synthetic rubbers (e.g. butyl rubber compositions) demonstrate inferior green strength and to combat that, teaches the inclusion of 2.5-15 phr of SPBD. One of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have found it obvious to include SPBD in the innerliner composition of Sugimoto, as taught by Sandstrom, for the benefits detailed above.
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 20-23 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
6. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN R FISCHER whose telephone number is (571)272-1215. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-2:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Katelyn Smith can be reached at 571-270-5545. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Justin Fischer
/JUSTIN R FISCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749 September 9, 2025