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
Response to Arguments
Applicants arguments and amendments, filed on 5/22/26, have been fully considered but they do not confer patentability on all of the instantly filed claims. Applicants have amended independent claim 1 to require that R1 is hydrogen or deuterium and one or two of R2-R4 is a benzofuran-condensed carbazol-9-yl group or a benzothiophene-condensed carbazol-9-yl group and the other one or two of R2-R4 being a substituted or unsubstituted carbazol-9-yl group excluding those groups above. The prior art rejections of record have been withdrawn in light of these amendments. To arrive at the instantly claimed compounds using the references of record would require the use of improper hindsight reconstruction. However, claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 112(d) as described below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. The first, second, fifth, and sixth structures recited in each of claims 13 and 14 does not further limit claim 1. Claim 1 requires that the benzofuran-condensed carbazol-9-yl group or the benzothiophene-condensed carbazol-9-yl group has the benzofuran or the benzothiophene group condensed with the carbazole ring at the 2- and 3-positions. The first and second structures in claims 13 and 14 are condensed at the 1- and 2-positions and the fifth and sixth structures in claims 13 and 14 are condensed at the 3- and 4-positions. Applicant may cancel the claims, amend the claims to place the claims in proper dependent form, rewrite the claims in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claims complies with the statutory requirements. Applicants can overcome this rejection by removing the structures in question in claims 13 and 14 or by amending claim 1 to remove the condition that the benzofuran and benzothiophene groups are bonded at the 2- and 3-positions of the carbazole ring system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-5, 8, 11, 12, and 16-18 are allowed for the reasons cited above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT S LOEWE whose telephone number is (571)270-3298. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Randy Gulakowski, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-1302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center for authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/Robert S Loewe/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
Prosecution Insights