DETAILED ACTION
Status of Application
Claims 8 and 10 are cancelled.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 11 are amended.
Claims 1-7, 9, and 11-14 are included in the prosecution.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments/Amendments
Applicant’s amendments filed 9 September 2025 are sufficient to withdraw the previous rejections under 35 USC 112(b) over claims 3, 4, and 8.
Examiner additionally relies on Couteau et al. (“Tris-biphenyl triazine, a new ultraviolet filter studied in terms of photoprotective efficacy” Int J Pharm. 2015 Jun 20;487(1-2):120-3. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2015.03.077. Epub 2015 Apr 2.) in a new ground of rejection, therefore this action is made NON-FINAL.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. 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 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.
Claims 1-7, 9, and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan et al. (“UV Protection of wood surfaces by graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets”, See 4/28/2023 IDS, page 2, reference 1) hereinafter Yuan.
Regarding claim 1, Yuan discloses graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) nanosheets were chosen as a novel non-toxic, green and low-cost UV absorber. Our research introduced a new UV absorber for wood products with efficient mechanism of UV protection. Resulting novel CW materials have good potential application prospects as functional wood products (abstract). Yuan discloses g-CN as a new metal-free UV absorber to protect wood substrate from the UV radiation. Heterogeneous interface structure was fabricated using hydrogen bonding between g-CN coating and wood surface by a simple hydrothermal method. The coated wood surface was subjected to the 15-day accelerated UV irradiation test. Protection efficiency was evaluated by the discoloration of the sample surface. Our results demonstrated that coatings with g-CN provided good protection to the underlying wood surfaces against UV light (pg 1070-1071; fig 1-8).
Yuan does not explicitly disclose each of the components of the composition in a single embodiment for an anticipation rejection.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yuan, to arrive at the instant invention.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because Yuan discloses all the required ingredients and Yuan discloses experimental results confirmed presence of g-CN nanosheet coating on the wood surface. This coating was strongly bound to the wood surface by forming hydrogen bonds with underlying lignin and cellulose. After 15-day accelerated weathering test, the surface of g-CN coated wood (CW) did not show any visible discoloration, and the total color change (ΔE*) was less than 10%. g-CN nanosheets also enhanced wood thermal stability. Our research introduced a new UV absorber for wood products with efficient mechanism of UV protection. Resulting novel CW materials have good potential application prospects as functional wood products (abstract). Further, one having ordinary still in the art would reasonably expect success in combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, see MPEP 2141.
Regarding claim 2, Yuan discloses that bands located in the 1220–1630 cm−1 range of the FTIR spectrum of g-CN are assigned to the C-N stretching, typical for tri-s-triazine structures (pg. 1072; fig. 1).
Regarding claims 3-4, Yuan discloses experimental results confirmed presence of g-CN nanosheet coating on the wood surface. This coating was strongly bound to the wood surface by forming hydrogen bonds with underlying lignin and cellulose. After 15-day accelerated weathering test, the surface of g-CN coated wood (CW) did not show any visible discoloration, and the total color change (ΔE*) was less than 10%. g-CN nanosheets also enhanced wood thermal stability. Our research introduced a new UV absorber for wood products with efficient mechanism of UV protection (abstract). One of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect that the sun protection factor of the g-CN nanosheet is 3.0 or more based on the experimental results of the 15 day accelerated weather test wherein the g-CN coated wood did not shower any visible discoloration, and the total color change was less than 10% as disclosed by Yuan.
Regarding claims 5-7, 9, and 11-12, Yuan discloses bulk g-CN was synthesized by directly heating melamine according to a previous report. Melamine powder was placed into a semi-closed quartz crucible with a lid and heated to 550 °C for 2 h, at a heating rate of 10 °C /min. The obtained yellow agglomerates were ground to powder. Second, g-CN nanosheets were prepared by the chemical exfoliation method. 1 g of the bulk g-CN powder was mixed with 100 mL of H2SO4 in a 200 mL flask and stirred vigorously for 12 h at room temperature. Then, the mixture was slowly poured into a dialysis hoses and placed in a water bath, which was refreshed frequently until the pH of the solution was neutral. The resulting suspension was centrifuged at 4000 rpm to remove unexfoliated g-CN and dried at 60 °C for 12 h. Wood was covered with the g-CN-based coating by a simple hydrothermal method. 100 mg of the g-CN nanosheet powder was dispersed in 100 mL of deionized water and then was ultrasonically homogenized (pg. 1071).
Regarding claims 13-14, Yuan discloses UV protection of wood surfaces by graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (abstract), one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect that the carbon nitride nanosheets are the ultraviolet blocking product and act as an ultraviolet blocking filter.
Claims 1-7, 9, and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Couteau et al. (“Tris-biphenyl triazine, a new ultraviolet filter studied in terms of photoprotective efficacy” Int J Pharm. 2015 Jun 20;487(1-2):120-3. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2015.03.077. Epub 2015 Apr 2.) hereinafter Couteau.
Regarding claims 1-7, 9, and 11-14, Couteau discloses tris-biphenyl triazine. This filter is both very effective, as it enables 2 SPF units and 1 UVA-PF units to be obtained respectively, by percentage of use, and very photostable, since the SPF and UVA-PF do not vary after 2h of irradiation in a solar simulator. Its broad spectrum associated with its qualities in terms of efficacy and photostability make it a choice ingredient for the formulation of sun protection products (abstract).
Couteau does not explicitly disclose each of the components of the composition in a single embodiment for an anticipation rejection.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Couteau, to arrive at the instant invention.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because Couteau discloses all the required ingredients and Couteau discloses tris-biphenyl triazine as UV filter. This filter is both very effective, as it enables 2 SPF units and 1 UVA-PF units to be obtained respectively, by percentage of use, and very photostable, since the SPF and UVA-PF do not vary after 2h of irradiation in a solar simulator. Its broad spectrum associated with its qualities in terms of efficacy and photostability make it a choice ingredient for the formulation of sun protection products (abstract). Further, one having ordinary still in the art would reasonably expect success in combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, see MPEP 2141.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
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/QUANGLONG N TRUONG/Examiner, Art Unit 1615