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/Restriction
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claim(s) 1-20, 37 and 38, in the reply filed on 12/22/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 21-36 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/22/2025.
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.
Claim 6 and 37 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.
Claims 6 and 37 recite the polyester structure. However, “x” and “y” are undefined in the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 4, 7-19, and 38, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Saleh et al., “Preparation of Polyester-Based Metal-Cross Linked Polymeric Composites as Novel Materials Resistant to Bacterial Adhesion and Biofilm Formation,” Molecules, vol. 16, pp. 933-950 (2011). (hereinafter Saleh).
Regarding claims 1, 3, 4, 7-19, and 38, Saleh teaches a polymer composite prepared from 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylate-based polyesters (See abstract). Specifically, the polyesters are obtained as shown in Scheme 1.
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(page 935) with a Tg of 8.3 deg C (Table 1, page 936), which meets the Tg of claim 16, and is semicrystalline because the aliphatic monomer (i.e. diol) is known as amorphous, and Saleh teaches the diethyl pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate monomer is crystalline (page 946). (i.e. amorphous+crystalline = semicrystalline). The above reacts 10 mmol of diol with 10 mmol of diethyl pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate (page 936), which meets the claimed 50 mol% of chelation crosslinking group of claim 3, the tridentate group of claim 7-9, and aliphatic ester groups of claim 4. Saleh teaches the above polymers are used to form bacterial biofilms (page 947) and can undergo copper complexation in Scheme 2, which meets the claimed transition metal of claim 10.
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(page 939), and crosslinking due to the metal complexation. (page 940 and 941). The polymers show about 4 mg of copper complexation per 1 g of polymer composite (Table 3, page 938), which correlates to about 4 wt% of copper cation in the polymer film and meets claims 11-12.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7, 8, and 10-18, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al., “Silver-coordination polymer network combining antibacterial action and shape memory capabilities,” RSC Advances, vol. 4, pp. 32276-32282 (2014). (hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claims 1-5, 7, 8, and 10-18, Wang teaches a multifunctional polymer network obtained from an isonicotinate-functionalized polyester, wherein pendant pyrazinamide groups on the polyester side chains are coordinated with silver (Ag) ions to form a physically crosslinked network. (See abstract). Specifically, the isonicotinate-functionalized polyester (PIE) is formed in Scheme 1.
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by reacting 10 mmol of BIN with 10 mmol of sebacic acid (i.e. 50 mol% of chelation groups), (page 32277), with a molecular weight of 45,200 and a polydispersity of 1.467 (page 32277), and the PIE is poured into a mold to from a PIE film, wherein the PIE film is then soaked in an AgNO3 solution and dried to form an Ag-PIE film (page 32277), the polymer network has about 3.11% Ag ions (page 32279), a glass transition temperature range of 20-55 deg C (page 32279), has excellent shape memory function (page 32280) and is used in the biomaterial fields because it is antibacterial and has good cytocompatibility. (page 32281).
Claim(s) 1-5, 7, 8, and 10-20, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 109134836 A to Tu et al. (hereinafter Tu).
Regarding claims 1-5, 7, 8, and 10-20, Tu teaches a polyether ester elastomer for metal ion coordination crosslinking (See abstract). Tu teaches the polyether ester has the formula
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, (See page 3 of pdf translation). The above is coordinated and crosslinked with transition metals (page 3 of pdf translation), and Tu further teaches the polyether ester is a multi-block copolymer (page 4 of pdf translation), with a number average molecular weight of 30,400 g/mol (Example 1) and the ether block may be polyethylene glycol (See example 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 37 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record are cited above. However, none of the above teaches the claimed polyester backbone formula.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HA S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7395. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, Flex schedule 7:30am-3:45pm.
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/HA S NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766