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 .
Detailed Action
Previous Rejections
Applicants' arguments, filed 11/11/25, have been fully considered. Rejections and/or objections not reiterated from previous office actions are hereby withdrawn. The following rejections and/or objections are either reiterated or newly applied. They constitute the complete set presently being applied to the instant application.
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, 5-16 and 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shabanova et al. (US PG Pub. 2019/0023476A1) in view of Morelli et al. (WO 02/091832 A1) and Green et al. (US PG Pub. 2006/0051266A1).
Shabanova et al. discloses disinfectant wipes, see title. Shabanova et al. teaches that a wipe comprises a first part comprising a first reagent in a carrier medium absorbed or impregnated in the fabric wipe members; and a second part within the burstable sachet (12), the second part miscible with the first part and comprising a second reagent in a carrier medium; wherein the first reagent and the second reagent will react when mixed to provide a disinfectant composition, see abstract. The reference teaches that the burstable sachet 12 contains a second part which is miscible with the first part and which comprises a second reagent in a carrier medium. In this example, the second part comprises 70 ml of an aqueous solution of sodium chlorite (0.5-5 g/kg), see [0013]. The first reagent and the second reagent react when mixed, to provide a disinfectant composition. In this example the disinfectant composition is aqueous chlorine dioxide (0.1-1 g/kg ClO2) produced by the reaction between sodium chlorite and citric acid, see [0014]. The disinfectant wipes wherein the first reagent is an acid and the second reagent is a chlorite, see claim 4 and wherein at least one of the first part and the second part includes an indicator reagent that changes colour when the parts are mixed together, see claim 5.
Shabanova et al. teaches that an aqueous chlorine dioxide has a characteristic yellow colour. When a user observes that the contents of the container 4 are yellow after bursting of the sachet, this provides confirmation of mixing. To augment the natural colour, the second part may optionally include a coloured component so that a visual indication of the coverage of the wipes with the second part can be made, see [0028].
Although the invention is exemplified with reference to a first part containing aqueous citric acid and a second part containing aqueous sodium chlorite, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the first part could contain sodium chlorite and the second part could contain citric acid. Other reagents, which will be well known per se to those skilled in the art may alternatively be employed, either for producing chlorine dioxide as the disinfectant or for producing an alternative disinfectant such as peracetic acid, see [0029].
While Shabanova et al. teaches use of indicator reagent, the refence does not teach the use of the claimed dyestuff.
Morelli et al. discloses a system as claimed instantly having two parts, which upon combination yield chlorine dioxide, used as disinfectant. An oxidizable dye is part of one of the system parts. This oxidizable dye is selected from naturally occurring colorants, such as red cabbage extract (containing anthocyanin colorant), beet root extract (which contains betanin colorant) or grape skin extract (which contains anthocyanin colorant), see claims 1-35. The dye is oxidized by chlorine dioxide (see page 4, lines, 23-24) and loses its color in the process (see page 6, lines, 5-13). As these dyes fall within the scope of claim 1, it is assumed that these dyes exhibit the desired properties. The system comprises a first reagent comprising a metal chlorite (see claim 15) and a second reagent comprising an acid (see claim 1 in combination with claims 20-24) . The suitable dyestuff for use is as described in the specification, so they all inherently disclose the use of a dyestuff that does not change colour when exposed to hydrogen peroxide and/or peracetic acid.
Green et al. teaches decontamination system, see title. Green et al. teaches use of a wipe and a fluid dispenser, see figure 5 and paragraph 56. The amount of dyestuff is disclosed to be from 0.1 to 2.0% and thus manipulation of amount would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. Regarding the limitation, the dyestuff does not colour change upon exposure to quaternary ammonium compounds or triamine-based disinfectants, the art uses the same color change mechanism to confirm that chlorine dioxide has been produced, so it would be implicit. Claim 16 defines a method of verifying that chlorine dioxide has been produced by observing the colour change. The references inherently disclose this, as they use the same colour change mechanism to confirm that chlorine dioxide has been produced, so claim 15 is not new. Furthermore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill to ensure that all the dyestuff would be oxidized for a full color change for antimicrobial purposes.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have utilized the dyestuff such as anthocyanin or anthocyanidin or betanin as indicator of color change and replace with the color indicator of Shabanova et al. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to do so because Morelli et al teaches the same reagents and carrier system in a disinfectant system and further teaches that dyestuff such as anthocyanin or anthocyanidin or betanin can be used to see the color change due to oxidation of the dye by chlorine dioxide. One of ordinary skill would have manipulated the amount of the dyestuff based on the guidance provided by Green et al. which teaches the generic amount of dye used in a disinfectant system as discussed above.
Applicant’s arguments are moot in view of new rejections are above necessitated by claim amendments.
Action is final
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SNIGDHA MAEWALL whose telephone number is (571)272-6197. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 8:30 AM to 5PM.
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/SNIGDHA MAEWALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1612