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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/26/26 has been entered.
Claims 1-2, 4, 7, 28 are still at issue and under consideration.
Claims 3, 5-6, 8-27 have been canceled.
Applicants' arguments filed on 2/26/26, have been fully considered and are deemed to be persuasive to overcome some of the rejections previously applied. Rejections and/or objections not reiterated from previous office actions are hereby withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 7, 28 remain rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bartel et al., “Bartel” (US2019/0125028, 5/2019), optionally in view of hygienic article storage techniques.
Bartel in its abstract teaches that its invention is directed to articles that include one or more coated fiber(s) (i.e., fiber(s) with a cured coating disposed thereon), where the coating includes a matrix of crosslinked polymers and optionally a colorant (e.g., pigment particles or dye or both). Bartel also points out that its invention is further directed to articles including the coated fibers, methods of forming the coated fibers and articles, and methods of making articles including the coated fibers.
In [0009], according to Bartel, its disclosure is also directed to a composite article, where the composite article comprises a solid resin material (e.g., a solid thermoplastic material or a solid thermoset material such as an epoxy resin material) consolidating the one or more coated fiber(s) as disclosed herein. When present, the optional colorants (e.g., pigments or dye or both) impart color or decorative effects to the fiber(s) and the articles, which can be realized by coating one or more fiber(s) with the coating composition and curing the coating composition prior to consolidating the one or more fiber(s) with the solid resin material.
In [0026], Bartel teaches that one or more coated fiber(s), can be incorporated into a tow, a yarn or a cable, and can be used in fiber form or yarn form to form a textile. For example, a textile comprising the one or more coated fiber(s) can be used to form footwear or components thereof, apparel (e.g., shirts, jerseys, pants, shorts, gloves, glasses, socks, hats, caps, jackets, undergarments) or components thereof, containers (e.g., backpacks, bags). In addition, the one or more coated fiber(s) can be used to produce articles or other items that are disposed on the article, where the article can be eye wear.
In [0181], Bartel elaborates on fillers which may be used to increase strength and other physical properties of its crosslinked polymers such as polyurethane, polypropylene, methacrylate, copolymers (see [10134]) etc.), wherein said crosslinked polymers can be considered to be the unactivated ingredient(s) of this invention. Bartel further mentions that the fillers can be clay, talc, mica, glauconite (wherein said components are part of sand by inherency), as well as copper, iron and tourmaline.
Given the teachings of Bartel, one of ordinary skill before the effective filing of this invention, can envisage for example utilizing the method of Bartel to prepare methacrylate made eye wear articles such as rigid contact lenses, with fillers such as one or more of copper, tourmaline, clay, talc, mica, glauconite. Said reference however, does not explicitly mention about storing said rigid contact lenses in a contact Lense solution in a sealed plastic container.
Current hygienic article storage techniques teach that it is best to store contact lenses in a sterile contact Lense solution (made of water, solvents and slats etc.) that is sealed in a plastic container because this inexpensive packaging technique avoids drying up and contamination of said lenses and wherein said packaging eases portability of said contact lenses.
Before the effective filing of this application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to start with the rigid contact lens preparation method of Bartel and after production, store said lenses in a contact lens solution sealed in a plastic container, according to current hygienic article storage techniques. Such sealed plastic contact Lense storage container is inherently a bioenergy generator, which produces biophotons as measured by a biophoton detector, rendering this invention obvious.
Finally, one of ordinary skill in the art has a reasonable expectation of success in preparing rigid contact lenses of Bartel using the instructions of Bartel and storing said contact lenses in a contact lens solution in a plastic container that is sealed, according to current hygienic article storage techniques because the prior art was fully established as to how to prepare rigid contact lenses and how to store said products to maintain hygiene and ensure convenience, before the effective filing of this application.
Applicant is reminded that preparing eye wear articles such as rigid contact lenses, using various relative proportions of its construction components (see claims 2, 4 and 7), was well within the skill of one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing of this application, and cannot be considered to be a contribution over the prior art.
No claim is allowed.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARYAM MONSHIPOURI whose telephone number is (571)272-0932. The examiner can normally be reached full-flex.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Melenie L Gordon can be reached at 571-272-8037. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARYAM MONSHIPOURI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1651