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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.
Claims 1-8 and 10-14 are pending in this application.
This action is in response to applicants' amendment dated December 12, 2025. Claims 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10-14 have been amended and claims 9 and 15 have been canceled.
Response to Amendment
Applicant's arguments filed December 12, 2025 have been fully considered with the following effect:
The applicants’ amendments are sufficient to overcome the 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph rejection, labeled paragraph 1) in the last office action, which is hereby withdrawn.
The applicant's amendments and arguments are sufficient to overcome the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph rejections, labeled paragraph 2a) and s) in the last office action, which are hereby withdrawn.
The applicants’ amendments are sufficient to overcome the 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph rejection, labeled paragraph 3) in the last office action, which is hereby withdrawn.
The applicant's amendments and arguments are sufficient to overcome the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph rejections, labeled paragraph 4a) b), c), d), e), f), g), h), i), j) and l) in the last office action, which are hereby withdrawn. However, with regards to the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph rejections, labeled paragraph 4k) and m) of the last office action, the applicant’s amendments and remarks have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
k) The applicants’ stated that by this amendment filed December 12, 2025, the claims are believed to overcome the rejections. However, the “or” that appears between the moieties phosphoric acid, or carbonic acid is still present in the claims as seen in the 2nd to the last line on page 8.
Claim 12 is 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 applicant regards as the invention, for reasons of record and stated above.
k) The applicants’ stated that by this amendment filed December 12, 2025, the claims are believed to overcome the rejections. However, definitions of the variables n1, n2, n3, R1, R2, X1, X2 and X3 are still present in the last line of the claim.
Claim 13 is 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 applicant regards as the invention, for reasons of record and stated above.
In view of the amendment dated December 12, 2025, the following new grounds of rejection apply:
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.
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, 5-8 and 10-14 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. The following reasons apply:
Claim 1 and claims dependent thereon are vague and indefinite in that it is not known what is meant by the “and are” in the definition - the alkyls in the "alkyl" "deuterated alkyl" "hydroxyalkyl" "haloalkyl" "haloalkoxy", "alkoxy" and are each independently C1-C₁₀ linear or branched alkyl.
Claims 6 and 13 are vague and indefinite in that it is not known what is meant by the variable n3 in formula (III) which is not defined in the claims.
Claim 6 is vague and indefinite in that it is not known what is meant by the definition of n3 where there is no variable n3 in formula (III).
Claim Objections
Claims 2-4 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDA L COLEMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-0665. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10-6 (flex).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey H. Murray can be reached on 571-272-9023. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRENDA L COLEMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1624