DETAILED ACTION
Status of Application
The Examiner acknowledges receipt of the amendments filed on 4/3/2026 wherein claims 1, 3, 5, 7, 20 have been amended, claims 21 and 22 have been added and claims 2, 4 and 6 have been cancelled
Claims 1, 3, 5, 7, 11-15 and 20-22 are presented for examination on the merits. The following rejections are made.
Response to Applicants’ Arguments
Applicant’s amendments filed 4/3/2026 overcome the rejection of claims 1-4, 6, 7, 11-15 and 20 made by the Examiner under 35 USC 103 over Luthe et al. (US 2021/0341370) in view of Bontchev et al. (US 2017/0210677) and Juodkazis et al. (US 2016/0212989). This rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s amendments filed 4/3/2026 overcome the rejection of claim 5 made by the Examiner under 35 USC 103 over Luthe et al. (US 2021/0341370) in view of Bontchev et al. (US 2017/0210677) and Juodkazis et al. (US 2016/0212989) further in view of Xu (US 2018/0213772). This rejection has been withdrawn.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3, 7, 11-15 and 20-22 are allowed.
Withdrawn claims 16-19 appear eligible for rejoinder.
Cancellation of withdrawn claims 8-10 is requested.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Claim 3, dependent from claim 1, recites, “wherein the biochar is impregnated, soaked or coated with the biocide.” However, claim 1 limits the structure of the composition such that the biocide “covers at least the apparent surface area and at least part of the inner surface area to form a solid nanometric layer”. As claim 1 requires the biocide to ‘cover’ the surface area of the biochar, this is considered as a coating thereon. Claim 3 appear to expand the scope of claim 1 rather than limit claim 1 via product-by-process limitations as ‘impregnated’ and ‘soaked’ biochar would yield something different than that claimed and as such are not considered further limiting.
. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYLE A PURDY whose telephone number is (571)270-3504. The examiner can normally be reached from 9AM to 5PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Bethany Barham, can be reached on 571-272-6175. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYLE A PURDY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1611
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