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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 March 31, 2026 has been entered with the filing of the request for continued examination filed on May 7, 2026.
Claims 1-3, 6, and 13-16 are amended. Claims 1-17 are pending with claims 7-17 withdrawn from consideration.
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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rentsch et al. (EP 3192837) in view of Brunner et al. (WO 2018/114891).
Regarding claims 1, 3, 4, and 6, Rentsch et al. teaches a surface-treated calcium carbonate (¶23) comprising ground calcium carbonate (the calcium carbonate-containing material consists of ground calcium carbonate) (¶67) that has a weight median particle size d50 of 0.05 to 10.0 µm and a top cut particle size d98 of 0.15 to 55 µm (¶75), and 2% by weight of a maleic anhydride grafted polybutadiene homopolymer (Table 3, Trial 5; Table 1), wherein the polymer provides a surface treatment to the ground calcium carbonate (¶21).
Rentsch et al. does not teach that the ground calcium carbonate has a BET surface area of from 0.5 to 25 m2/g. However, Brunner et al. teaches a surface-treated filler material comprising ground calcium carbonate (Page 8, lines 19-23) with a BET specific surface area of from 0.5 to 150 m2/g, preferably of from 0.5 to 50 m2/g, more preferably of from 0.5 to 35 m2/g, and most preferably of from 0.5 to 15 m2/g (Page 11, line 20 to Page 12, line 1). Rentsch et al. and Brunner et al. are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor as that of the instant invention, namely that of ground calcium carbonate particles surface treated and used in polyester compositions. At the time of the filing of the instant invention, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use ground calcium carbonate with a BET specific area of from 0.5 to 150 m2/g, as taught by Brunner et al., in the surface-treated calcium carbonate, as taught by Rentsch et al., and would have been motivated to so because Brunner et al. teaches that this range of BET specific surface area is suitable for the ground calcium carbonate that is used for surface-treated fillers in polyester compositions.
Regarding claim 2, Rentsch et al. teaches that the ground calcium carbonate is selected from the group consisting of marble, chalk, limestone, and mixtures thereof (¶70).
Regarding claim 5, Trial 5 in Table 3 uses Ricon 130MA08 as the polybutadiene homopolymer functionalized with maleic anhydride graft polymer. This polymer has a number average molecular weight of 2,700 g/mol (see, Ricon 130MA8 technical data sheet included previously).
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on March 31, 2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of any patent granted on U.S. Application No. 17/928,212 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 31, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that the claim amendment of “a calcium carbonate-comprising material consisting of ground calcium carbonate” is not met by the teaching of is not met by the teaching of Rentsch et al. because Rentsch et al. uses a ground calcium carbonate that has been transformed by reacting with carbon dioxide and H3O+ ions to form a surface-modified calcium carbonate that is then subjected to further surface treatment. This argument is unpersuasive.
Rentsch et al. teaches that the surface-modified calcium carbonate is made starting from ground calcium carbonate (¶69). Therefore, there is provided a calcium carbonate-comprising material that consists of ground calcium carbonate. There is no requirement in the claims that the composition only contains ground calcium carbonate and the grafted polymer. Additionally, claim 1 is not a method claim and therefore, the method of making the composition is not germane to the current claims. The fact that Rentsch et al. uses other compounds and/or other method steps to make the disclosed surface treated calcium carbonate does not negate that it does teach a composition comprising calcium carbonate-containing material that is only ground calcium carbonate and the specifically claimed graft polymer. This argument is unpersuasive.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELA C SCOTT whose telephone number is (571)270-3303. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:00, EST.
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/ANGELA C SCOTT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1767
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