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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/22/2026 has been entered.
Withdrawn Rejection
The 35 U.S.C. §103 rejection of claims 1-4 and 11-14 as Shimizu (WO 2014/188529) in view of Ichimaru et al. (JP 2002-138168), Miyagawa (JP 2005-349570) and Omori et al. (JP 2006-288745), made of record in the office action mailed on 02/23/2026, page 2 has been withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendment in the response filed on 05/22/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-4 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu (WO 2014/188529) in view of Ichimaru et al. (JP 2002-138168), Miyagawa (JP 2005-349570), Omori et al. (JP 2006-288745) and Maeki et al. (JP 2007-100032).
Regarding claims 1-4 and 11-14 Shimizu discloses sole for shoes is formed from a composition which contains a rubber component that contains a natural rubber and/or an isoprene rubber, silica that is blended in an amount of 35-60 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component (abstract). The silica mainly functions as a reinforcing agent that reinforces the rubber component. The compounding amount of the silica is 35 parts by mass or more, preferably 40 parts by mass or more, and more preferably 45 parts by mass or more with respect to 100 parts by mass of the rubber component. By blending 35 parts by mass or more of silica, a relatively high strength shoe sole can be formed (page 4).
However, Shimizu fails to disclose that the rubber composition comprising activated carbon in an amount of 0.1-5 % by mass and the activated carbon is at least one of wood-based activated carbon or bamboo charcoal activated carbon and pores are formed in a surface of the shoe sole that contacts the ground and the pores having a diameter of from 0.5-3 microns.
Whereas, Ichimaru discloses rubber composition comprising activated carbon and rubber (abstract). The rubber component used in the present invention is natural rubber (para 0006). The rubber composition for shoes of the present invention comprises: It is characterized in that it is used as shoe parts such as rubber tip, heel rubber, and soles (para 0008), see pages 1-3. Ichimaru discloses rubber composition for shoes according to the present invention is characterized in that activated carbon is blended in an amount of 0.1 to 10 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the rubber component (para 0004, see pages 1-3).
Whereas, Miyagawa discloses enhance the deodorizing capacity of a nonwoven fabric sheet by eliminating the apprehension of ignition while increasing the amount of activated carbon to enhance the deodorizing capacity thereof at the time of use as an insole or the like (abstract) and discloses a deodorant activated carbon sheet that is used for an insole and is effective for deodorizing a shoe sole unpleasant odor (page 1). As the activated carbon used, coconut shell activated carbon, bamboo charcoal, coal quality, petroleum quality, etc. can be considered because it is inexpensive and excellent in deodorizing / wetting effect (page 5).
Whereas, Omori discloses deodorizing sheet that adsorbs odorous components such as body odor and at the same time absorbs fats such as sebum, and is particularly suitable for insoles of shoes and floor mats that are walking barefoot (page 1). Omori discloses deodorizing sheets obtained by laminating a surface sheet and an adsorbing sheet through an adhesive layer, and the surface sheet has a density of 0.8 g / cm .sup.3 or more and air permeability. Is a paper of 30 seconds or less, and the adsorbing sheet is a paper containing 3 to 40% by mass of a porous filler. In the present invention, the porous filler is preferably at least one selected from the group consisting of activated carbon (page 2). The porous filler adsorbs odorous components and prevents the generation of odors (page 3).
Whereas, Maeki discloses functional coating is formed by mixing 80-120 pts.mass of a mixed powder of a porous inorganic powder and a functional inorganic powder into 100 pts.mass of a resin solution (abstract). Maeki discloses as is apparent from FIG. 4, the example sheet has conductivity as well as a moisture absorption function, and has a charge suppressing function (page 8). The Example sheet was processed into a shoe sole shape with a scissors, and was placed on the shoe sole, worn for 3 days, taken out, and visually observed for appearance and nasal odor determination (page 9). The porous inorganic powder is at least one selected from the group consisting of activated carbon powder (claim 5). As the porous inorganic powder activated carbon powder (average particle size 2 μm) was used (page 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to include porous activated carbon such as bamboo charcoal in an amount of 0.1-10 parts by weight having an average pore size of 2 microns as taught by Miyagawa in view of Ichimaru, Omori and Maeki in the composition of Shimizu motivated by the desire to have improved adsorptive power and prevents color transfer and to have excellent deodorizing performance and prevents the generation of odors and to have exhibit a moisture absorbing function and conductivity (Maeki, page 5).
As Shimizu in view of Ichimaru and Miyagawa, Omori and Maeki discloses shoe sole composed of a rubber composition comprising rubber, inorganic filler such as silica and activated carbon such as bamboo charcoal as presently claimed, it therefore would be obvious that initial modulus of the rubber composition would intrinsically be 10 MPa or less.
As Miyagawa in view of Ichimaru, Omori and Maeki discloses porous activated carbon which is used in the composition of Shimizu to form shoe sole, it therefore would be obvious that pores would intrinsically be formed on the surface of the shoe sole that contacts the ground.
Claim(s) 5, 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu (WO 2014/188529) in view of Ichimaru et al. (JP 2002-138168) and Miyagawa (JP 2005-349570), Omori et al. (JP 2006-288745) and Maeki et al. (JP 2007-100032) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Kuramoto et al. (JP 2016-189969).
Regarding claims 5, 15-20 Ichimaru fails to disclose that the rubber composition further comprises polyethylene glycol in an amount of 0.1-10 parts by mass based on 100 parts by mass of the rubber.
Whereas, Kuramoto discloses rubber composition for a sole (abstract). The rubber composition for a shoe sole that can give a rubber cross-linked product excellent in slip resistance and wear resistance and can be suitably used for shoe sole materials (page 1). The rubber composition for a shoe sole of the present invention includes a polyalkylene in addition to the above-described terminally modified group-containing cyclic olefin ring-opening polymer, conjugated diene rubber having a glass transition temperature of −50 to −10 ° C., and silica. It preferably contains glycol. Polyalkylene glycol acts as a crosslinking activator, and by adding polyalkylene glycol, the crosslinking density of the resulting crosslinked product can be improved. It can be raised appropriately. Further, by blending polyalkylene glycol, the crosslinking rate of the rubber composition can be increased and the productivity of the shoe sole can be increased. The compounding amount of polyalkylene glycol in the rubber composition for shoe soles of the present invention is preferably 1 to 15 parts by weight, more preferably 1.50 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the rubber component in the rubber composition for shoe soles. 5 to 10 parts by weight, more preferably 2 to 5 parts by weight. By making the compounding quantity of polyalkylene glycol into the said range, the abrasion resistance of the rubber crosslinked material obtained can be improved more appropriately (page 16). The polyalkylene glycol includes polyethylene glycol (see example 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to include PEG in an amount of 5-10 parts by weight as taught by Kuramoto in the rubber composition of Shimizu motivated by the desire to have improved abrasion resistance.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 05/22/2026 have been fully considered, but they are moot in view of new grounds of rejections as stated above.
Conclusion
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/RONAK C PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788
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