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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1 and 2 in the reply filed on 5/12/25 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 1 and 2 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.
Claim 1 recites in the newly added element: “the modified polyamide resin has an organic group derived from the alkylenediamine derivative bonded via a newly formed amide bond, the organic group being one or more organic groups selected from the group consisting of amino group, imino group, and ammonium group,” which contains imino group and ammonium group. However, if a polyamide is modified with an alkylene diamine, it would not form imino or ammonium groups. Therefore, the claims are indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by CN 109351190.
This reference teaches a polyamide membrane made from MPD and TMC and modified with ethylene diamine of hexamethylene diamine. See claims 8 and 9.
The newly added amendment, “the modified polyamide resin has an organic group derived from the alkylenediamine derivative bonded via a newly formed amide bond, the organic group being one or more organic groups selected from the group consisting of amino group, imino group, and ammonium group,” is only a result of modifying the polyamide resin, which in itself is only a process step, and thus not a patentable structure different from what is taught in the reference. The reference teaches in claim 1, step (4): “(4)The base film and the separated skin layer are integrally crosslinked by an aliphatic polyamine compound or an aromatic polyamine compound after interfacial polymerization.” Thus the claims are anticipated.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by CN 112387134.
This reference also teaches a polyamide membrane (MPD/TMC) modified (crosslinked) with ethylene diamine, propylene diamine, butane diamine, hexamethylene diamine, 4,4'-, diethyltriamine [sic] and/or hyperbranched polyethyleneimine.
Arguments are not persuasive, because (1) the order of addition is a process variable, and therefore, not a patentable element in the product claims, and (2) the “imino group” as claimed can come from only the polyimide support layer, which shows the order of addition does not matter.
Response to Arguments
Arguments are not persuasive; they are addressed in the rejection.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/KRISHNAN S MENON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1777