DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/17/26 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 2, 5-11, and 14-23 are currently pending. Claims 3, 4, 12, and 13 are cancelled. Claims 5, 7, 9, 14-16, 18, and 20 are withdrawn from further consideration as being drawn to a non-elected invention. New claims 21-23 has been added. The previous objections to claims 5-7, 9, 14-16, 18, and 20 is withdrawn. The amended claims do overcome the previously stated 103 rejections. However, upon further consideration, claims 1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 17, 19, and 21-23 are rejected under the following new 112 rejections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 17, 19, and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
With respect to independent claims 1, 8, and 17, the limitations “ethylene propylene rubber”, “polypropylene”, “ethylene-propylene copolymer”, “propylene-butene copolymer”, and “ethylene-propylene-butene copolymer” are not supported by the specification when taken in context with newly amended limitation “20 ≤ Q2-Q1 ≤ 47”.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 17, 19, and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
It is unclear what the metes and bounds of the claims are since both limitations seem largely mutually exclusive of each other based on the Examples noted in the instant specification (Examples 1, 3, 5, 7). Since considerable speculation by the examiner would be needed to interpret the claim as a whole, no prior art rejection can be made at this time (In re Steele, see MPEP 2143.04).
Examiner’s note: withdrawn claim 8 should be amended accordingly so as to be properly maintained for purposes of possible rejoinder should claim 1 be found allowable.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 17, 19, and 21-23 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/T.S.C/Examiner, Art Unit 1751
/JONATHAN G LEONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1751 8/26/2026
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