DETAILED ACTION
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior office action.
All outstanding objections and rejections made in the previous Office Action, and not repeated below, are hereby withdrawn.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 6/25/26 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0135958 (herein Kazemi) in view of US 2002/0165330 (herein Cady) and US 2004/0254309 (herein Parrish).
As to claim 13, Kazemi discloses a solution phase polymerization process for making an ethylene/1-octene copolymer (paragraph 97-104 and examples) in the presence of hydrogen in a single (one) continuous solution phase polymerization (CSTR reactor, see paragraph 166, 31, 328 and examples) at a temperature of 140° C or higher (paragraph 172, 176 and examples). The catalyst is shown below and is a single-site catalyst system (paragraph 11). See examples. A borate activator (activator, same utilized in the examples of the instant invention) is utilized. In the examples, it is observed that the stress exponent (S.Ex, see table 6A, etc.) changes with different ethylene concentration of ethylene, etc. Also see tables 5A and examples 1-2, etc. The catalyst is specifically diphenylmethylene(cyclopentadienyl)(2,7-di-t-butylfuorenyl)hafnium dimethyl of generic structure
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(paragraph 60). Specifically mentioning diphenylmethylene(cyclopentadienyl)(2,7-di-t-butylfuorenyl)hafnium dichloride ([(2,7-tBu.sub.2Flu)Ph.sub.2C(Cp)HfMe.sub.2], abbreviated CpF-2, see paragraph 63 and 302), which has the structure
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232
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reading on claimed structure of claim 11, wherein Q=chloride (leaving group), G is carbon, R4=R5=phenyl, R1=hydrogen, R2=R3=tbutyl.
Kazemi is silent on controlling the parameters to have the copolymer have long chain branching factor (LCBF).
Cady discloses similar methods of producing ethylene copolymers (including octene) in a single continuous reactor. See abstract, paragraph 285 and examples. Cady teaches that the long chain branching (LCB, thus reading on claimed LCBF) is controlled to improve polymer characteristics such as processability and melt strength. See paragraph 3 and 394. Parish also teaches similar methods of producing polyethylenes. See paragraph 15 and examples. Parish teaches that the long chain branching (LCB) is increased by lower comonomer concentration (thus a lower mass ratio of octene to ethylene and reading on claimed condition iv), etc. See paragraph 79. Thus, it is evident that it is known in the art that one would want to increase or alter the LCBF to effect the properties such as processability and melt strength and one would do so by decreasing the mass ratio of octene:ethylene. In light of this information, one would have been motivated to change the ratio of octene:ethylene during or after runs when producing and optimizing the copolymer.
Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time of the invention to have modified the method of Kazemi to include targeting a LCBF for the copolymer and increasing/adjusting the LCBF by decreasing the mass ratio of 1-octene:ethylene as taught by parish because one would want to improve the processability and melt strength as taught by Cady.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments/amendments are partly persuasive and the rejections over claim 1 and claims that depend thereupon have been withdrawn. Specifically, the claim amendment requires all of conditions i) to v) to be met. However, there is no evidence that the catalyst and conditions of Kazemi, despite being a similar catalyst, would be capable of behaving as claimed. In other words, no inherency argument can be made because there is not enough evidence on record to suggest that the claimed capabilities would naturally flow from the Kazemi method. So even if one was motivated to modify the LCBF, it is not clear that all the changes would have the claimed affect.
However, claim 13 remains unamended and previous rejection is maintained.
Specifically, claim 13 only requires “one or more of” the claimed conditions to be met, which as elucidated above in the prior art rejections, it is known that a lower mass ratio of octene to ethylene and reading on claimed condition iv.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK S KAUCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-7340. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-6 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arrie Lanee Reuther can be reached at (571) 270-7026. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK S KAUCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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