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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 November 18, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on November 18, 2025 has been entered. Claims 1 - 9 and 23 are canceled. Claims 10 is amended and no claims were added. Claims 10 – 22 are pending.
The cancellation of claim 23 is sufficient to render moot the rejection of said claim.
The amendment is sufficient to overcome the 35 USC 112 rejections set forth in the previous Office Action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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(s) 10 – 17 and 21 – 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carlson et al. (6,671,936) in view of Fleissner (6,487,762).
Carlson et al. discloses a patterned nonwoven fabric comprising a hydroentangled imaged nonwoven (abstract). Carlson et al. teaches that hydroentangled and patterned fibrous material is laminated to a colored backing material that is a different color than the patterned layer (column 2, lines 27 – 40). The patterned hydroentangled fabric is equivalent to the applicant’s first entangled web of fibers, and is a spunlace layer. The two layer are intermingled together by water jets which relocate fibers of the backing material into the facing layer (column 2, lines 45 – 55). The backing material is colored by various methods including screen printing or use of dyes or pigments, which would be types of colorants (column 3, lines 24 – 30). The backing material is equivalent to the interior layer of the claimed invention. The backing layer can be chosen from a fibrous nonwoven and is hydroentangled to the facing layer (column 2, lines 35 – 40). Nonwoven fabrics can include hydroentangled fabric which are known to be equivalent to spunlace fabrics. The backing material includes fibrous webs which are colored by known means such as pigments, dyed or screen printing. It is noted, that screen printing is known in the art as printing method that generally applies a pattern, which would be equivalent to applicant’s discrete shape. The hydroentanglement process includes the use of patterning drums or the like to impart a specific pattern onto the nonwoven fabric (column 4, lines 30 – 45). The second fibrous layer is added by an hydroentanglement station and some of the fibers of the backing layer are relocated into the facing layer to produce a pattern made from the color of the backing layer (column 4, lines 45 – 55). Thus, as shown in the figures various patterns can be made by having the color of the backing layer push through the facing layer in only set areas.
While Carlson et al. discloses that the backing material can include a color and can even be screen printed prior to hydroentangling the backing layer to the face layer, Carlson et al. does not specifically teach that the different colors are applied to the backing material prior to entanglement. Fleissner et al. is drawn to a hydroentangled colored composite (abstract). Fleissner teaches that the composite includes a nonwoven layer used as the upper layer is provided with one or more colors or is colored or printed itself (abstract). This upper layer is then placed on top of a second layer which has a different color and the fibers in the first layer are displaced into the fibers of the second layer (abstract). Thus, Fleissner teaches that the upper layer has one or more colors wherein the layer is colored, dyed, or printed as is chosen, prior to be joined to the second layer (column 1, lines 35 – 37). The colored layer can be produced from one of more different colors to produce various patterns because of the different color fibers (column 1, lines 43 – 45). Further, Fleissner discloses that the pattern in the final product will be influenced by the colors of the fibers in the first layer, the colors of the fibers in the second layer and degree and pattern of entanglement imparted by the water jets (column 1, lines 50 – 67). Thus, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the color applied to the backing layer of Carlson et al. can include two or more colors and be added by printing, dyeing, or coloring the fibers, as taught by Fleissner et al. to modify and influence the final pattern and have multiple colors in the finished product. Further, Carlson et al. suggests that colors can be added by screen printing, which is known to apply printing ink in pattern to a surface. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art that the backing layer can include multiple colored fibers and printed patterns applied to discrete areas of the nonwoven prior to entanglement. Further, It would be obvious to add or modify the colors and the color patterns to change the design of the final product. Thus, claims 10 – 12, 14, 16, and 17 are rejected.
With regards to claim 13, Carlson et al. discloses that screen printing can be used to apply the pigments to the backing materials. Screen printing is known to apply colorant the surface of a fabric and not evenly penetrate the thickness of the fabric. Thus, it would be obvious to use colorants that are only on the surface or upper regions of the backing layer to product the colored pattern. Therefore, claims 13 and 15 are rejected.
With regards to claims 21 and 22, the intended use of the fabric, i.e., a portion of an article and what surface the first entangled web of fibers comprises is considered to be limitations drawn to how the fabric can be used. It has been held that a recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed product is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed product from a prior art product satisfying the claimed structural limitation. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (1987). Thus, claims 21 and 22 are rejected with claim 10 and 14 respectively.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carlson et al. and Fleissner as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Putnam et al. (2003/0211801) and Lochner (4,211,593).
The features of Carlson et al. and Fleissner have been added above. Carlson et al. fails to teach the fiber denier in the different layers. Putnam et al. is drawn to a hydroentangled imaged nonwoven fabric made from one or more layers (abstract and paragraph 9). Putnam et al. discloses that the denier range can cover a range of sizes (paragraph 39). Additionally, Putnam et al. suggests that nano-denier fibers can be used in the composite (paragraph 52). Finally, Putnam et al. discloses that using different fiber deniers in the precursor web allows for the creation of varying frictional properties so that the web can be used as wipes (paragraph 67). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art use different denier sized fibers, as taught by Putnam et al. in the different fabric layers of Carlson et al., to produce a hydroentangled product with varying frictional properties that can be used in cleaning products.
Carlson et al. fails to teach using more than two entangled web of fibers. Lochner is drawn to combining together different layers to create a colored final product (abstract). The needled fabric can include 3 layer webs wherein each layer has a different color or four layer webs with four different color layers (column 2, lines 25 – 65). Thus, it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art that additional layers of entangled webs can be added to the product of Carlson et al. Therefore, claim 18 is rejected.
Claim(s) 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carlson et al., Fleissner, Putnam et al., and Lochner, as applied to claim 18 above, and further in view in view of Austin et al. (5,413,849).
The features of Carlson et al., Fleissner, Putnam et al., and Lochner have been set forth above. While Carlson et al. discloses needling together multiple web layers, Carlson et al. fails to teach adding an elastomeric layer between the first and second entangled webs. Austin et al. is drawn to composite nonwovens comprising elastomeric filaments entangled with adjacent layers to form a coherent elastomeric structure (abstract). Separate nonwoven webs are disposed on opposite sides of an elastomeric web to ensure that the elastic fibers are in the interior of the composite fabric (column 3, lines 11 – 18). The composite nonwoven has desirable durability, conformability, stretch and recovery properties (column 1, lines 5 – 10). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include an elastomeric layer between the first and third web of fibers in the fabric of Carlson et al. prior to entanglement as taught by Austin et al. to give the composite fabric improve durability and conformability and also give the fabric stretch and recovery properties. Therefore, claims 19 is rejected.
With regards to claim 20, as set forth above, Lochner teaches using multiple fibrous webs to make the hydroentangled composite. Hence, it would have been obvious to include at multiple fibrous webs in the composite of Carlson et al. to form the product of Carlson et al. The fourth layer of the four layer laminate taught by Lochner would be equivalent to the claimed third entangled web of fibers. Thus, claims 20 is rejected.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed November 18, 2025, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues that Fleissner does not teach applying color in a pattern before entanglement, but the pattern is created by the entanglement of the two layers (response, pages 2 – 3). However, Fleissner expressly teaches that one layer is colored by one or more colors using dyes or printing prior to placing the layer with the other nonwoven layer and entanglement (column 1, lines 33 – 42). Thus, Flessner teaches that the nonwoven can have two colors printed onto the fabric. Printing two different colors onto a surface would result in a pattern. And Flessner discloses that different patterns can be used to produce a wide variety of aesthetic in the final product. Further, Carlson et al. discloses that colors can be added by screen printing which is known to create a patterned image on a surface. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include multiple combinations of colors onto the backing layer of Carlson et al. including a printed region having a discrete shape to create a visually desirable final product. Using combinations of colors, dyes or prints are taught by Fleissner and Carlson et al. Thus, the rejection is maintained.
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jlj
January 10, 2026
/JENNA L JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789