DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to Remarks and Amendments filed October 20, 2025 in regards to a 371 application filed July 25, 2022 claiming priority to PCT/KR2021/004845 filed April 19, 2021 and to foreign application KR10-2020-0079641 filed June 29, 2020. Claims 1-8 have been elected without traverse. Claims 9-20 have been withdrawn as non-elected. Claims 1-2 have been amended. Claims 3-4 have been cancelled without prejudice. Claims 1-2 and 5-8 are pending and currently being examined.
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 .
Response to Argument
In view of the Amendments to the Abstract, the objection to the Specification has been withdrawn.
In view of the Remarks and Amendments, the rejection of claim 4 under 35 USC § 112 has been withdrawn.
In view of the Remarks and Amendments, the rejections of claims 1-8 under 35 USC § 103 have been withdrawn and new rejections under 35 USC § 103 have been made.
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) 1-2 and 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Donelson et al. (US 2009/0017320 A1) in view of Matsumoto et al. ((US 2013/0253165 A1).
Donelson et al. disclose copolyesters comprising repeating units of diacid residues and diol residues wherein at least 80 mole percent of the diacid residues are terephthalic acid residues and up to 20 mole percent of one or more of one or more other dicarboxylic acid residues such as bis(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalate [0046]. Donelson et al. disclose the diol component of the copolyester comprises from 98 to 1 mole percent ethylene glycol residues and 2 to 99 mole percent 1,3-cyclohexanedimethanol and/or 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol residues [0047]. Donelson et al. disclose in one embodiment that the mole ratio of ethylene glycol and 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol residues is about 5:95 to 95:5, and more preferably about 50:50 to about 77:23 [0047] meeting the instant limitation of 0.07:1 to 20:1.
Donelson et al. do not disclose the use of recycled bis(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalate in the composition, but since the instant claim is to a composition, the chemical composition of recycled bis(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalate is chemically the same as bis(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalate, therefore Donelson et al. would read on the limitation of recycled bis(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalate.
Donelson et al. do not disclose that the molar ratio of a diol and a dicarboxylic acid or a derivative thereof is 0.2:1 to 1.35:1.
Matsumoto et al. disclose a polyester composition comprising a dicarboxylic acid component preferably terephthalic acid from the standpoint of mechanical properties, heat resistance, and polymerizability [0015] and various diols such as ethylene glycol and cyclohexanedimethanol [0016]. Matsumoto et al. disclose the molar ratio of diol component to dicarboxylic acid component is 1.05 to 1.30 [0022, 0053; Example 1] with the benefit of the time cycle can be shortened because the esterification reaction proceeds efficiently and the heat resistance is maintained due to reduced by-product formation of dimers of the diol component [0019]. One of ordinary skill in the art would find obvious to use the benefits of the molar ratio of diol to dicarboxylic acid of Matsumoto et al. being within the range of the instant claim with the polyester composition of Donelson et al. to shortened the time cycle, reduce by-product formation, and maintain mechanical properties and heat resistance.
In regards to claim 2, Donelson et al. disclose cyclohexanedimethanol [0047-0048].
In regards to claim 5, Donelson et al. disclose the polyesters comprise an inherent viscosity (IV) of about 0.5 to about 1.2 dL/g [0067; Claim 1].
In regards to claim 6, Matsumoto et al. disclose unreacted diol is distilled out of the reaction system, thereby suppressing the by-product formation of dimers of the diol component [0027].
In regards to claim 7, Donelson et al. in view of Matsumoto et al. disclose a polyester composition of the instant claim 1, therefore would possess the haze properties of the instant claim.
In regards to claim 8, Donelson et al. in view of Matsumoto et al. disclose a polyester composition of the instant claim 1, therefore would possess the property of (Hunter L color value) – (Hunter b color value) of a polyester specimen with a thickness of 6 mm of 85 or more of the instant claim.
Conclusion
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 RONALD GRINSTED whose telephone number is (571)270-7634. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm.
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/RONALD GRINSTED/ Examiner, Art Unit 1763
/JOSEPH S DEL SOLE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1763