DETAILED ACTION
Applicant’s amendment dated 20 January 2026 is hereby acknowledged. Claims 15-19 and 21-27 as amended are pending. All outstanding objections and rejections made in the previous Office Action, and not repeated below, are hereby withdrawn.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior office action.
New grounds of rejection set forth below are necessitated by applicant’s amendment filed on 20 January 2026. For this reason, the present action is properly made final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 15-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0043602 (“Uchigata”) in view of 4,785,057 (“Shiiki”).
As to claims 15, 16, 18, 19, and 22, Uchigata teaches a molding material (para. 0014). The material is a long fiber pellet obtained by impregnating a strand into a continuous reinforcing fiber bundle, followed by cutting (paras. 0036-0037, 0051-0055).
Uchigata teaches the use of polyarylene sulfide as the resin (para. 0022), and is not particularly restricted, but does not recite the specific resin. Shiiki teaches a polyarylene sulfide that is a block copolymer of p-phenylene sulfide units and m-phenylene sulfide units. Shiiki exemplifies such copolymers composed of only p-phenylene sulfide units and m-phenylene sulfide units, and having a melting point of below 270 degrees C , and crystallization temperature below 190 degrees C as required by claim 18, and having 7 mol% or more of m-phenylene sulfide as required by claims 15 and 16 and the difference between the crystallization temperature and melting temperature is 80 degrees C or more as required by claim 19. (see Table A1, polymer codes 1-3 and 2-3). Shiiki teaches that the resin is suitable for molding, including with fibers (15:37-60). Shiiki teaches that such resins provide melt processibility with heat resistance and crystallizability (6:25-42). As such, it would be an obvious modification to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use resins according to Shiiki in the long fiber pellet taught by Uchigata.
While not exemplified with the recited polyarylene sulfide, Uchigata teaches that the fiber prior to impregnating with polyarylene sulfide, the fiber may be treated with a sizing agent adhered to the bundle as required by claim 22 (para. 0037). Uchigata teaches that a preferred sizing agent is an epoxy resin (para. 0037). The subsequent impregnation with polyarylene sulfide in this case, is deemed equivalent to a composite of epoxy resin and reinforcing fiber bundle further coated with the polyarylene sulfide. Uchigata teaches that the monofilaments may be bundled with the sizing agent (para. 0037), which suggests an epoxy resin between monofilaments (single fibers). As such, epoxy resin meets the recitation of an epoxy resin between filaments (fibers) and adhered to a bundle.
As to claim 17, Uchigata teaches forming pellets with a fiber length approximately equal to that of the pellet (para. 0055).
As to claim 21, Uchigata teaches that the reinforcing fiber may be carbon fiber (para. 0036).
Claim(s) 23-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 4,785,057 (“Shiiki”)
As to claims 23 and 24, Shiiki teaches a polyarylene sulfide that is a block copolymer of p-phenylene sulfide units and m-phenylene sulfide units. Shiiki exemplifies such copolymers composed of only p-phenylene sulfide units and m-phenylene sulfide units, and having a melting point of below 270 degrees C and having 7 mol% or more of m-phenylene sulfide. (see Table A1, polymer codes 1-3 and 2-3).
Shiiki teaches a sealing or encapsulation composition, which provides molded articles (19:35-40; 21:30-35), thus molded article.
Shiiki teaches a block copolymer and fibrous fillers; while not exemplified, Shiiki teaches glass fibers and other fibers, and teaches preferable length up to 0.5 mm, which overlaps the recited range. As such, the use of fibers, including in the recited range, is an obvious modification suggested by Shiiki as a fiber length. It is presumed, given that glass fibers are acknowledged to be reinforcing (see applicant’s specification, para. 0034).
Shiiki teaches the compositions may also include minor amounts of thermosetting resins, including epoxy resins (20:45-48(. While not exemplified, Shiiki teaches that the amount of the polyphenylene sulfide block copolymer is at least 60 wt % (20:47-52), and the amount of fillers such as fibers ranges from 50 to 200 wt % of resin (21:3-7). This suggests an amount of epoxy resin no more than approximately 26 wt %, which substantially overlaps the recited range. As such, the inclusion of thermosetting epoxy resin, including in the recited amount, is an obvious modification suggested by Shiiki.
As to claims 25 and 26, Shiiki teaches a polyarylene sulfide that is a block copolymer of p-phenylene sulfide units and m-phenylene sulfide units. Shiiki exemplifies such copolymers composed of only p-phenylene sulfide units and m-phenylene sulfide units, and having a melting point of below 270 degrees C , and crystallization temperature below 190 degrees C, and having 7 mol% or more of m-phenylene sulfide. (see Table A1, polymer codes 1-3 and 2-3).
Shiiki teaches a sealing or encapsulation composition, which provides molded articles (19:35-40; 21:30-35), thus molded article.
Shiiki teaches a block copolymer and fibrous fillers; while not exemplified, Shiiki teaches glass fibers and other fibers, and teaches preferable length up to 0.5 mm, which overlaps the recited range. As such, the use of fibers, including in the recited range, is an obvious modification suggested by Shiiki as a fiber length. It is presumed, given that glass fibers are acknowledged to be reinforcing (see applicant’s specification, para. 0034).
Shiiki teaches the compositions may also include minor amounts of thermosetting resins, including epoxy resins (20:45-48(. While not exemplified, Shiiki teaches that the amount of the polyphenylene sulfide block copolymer is at least 60 wt % (20:47-52), and the amount of fillers such as fibers ranges from 50 to 200 wt % of resin (21:3-7). This suggests an amount of epoxy resin no more than approximately 26 wt %, which substantially overlaps the recited range. As such, the inclusion of thermosetting epoxy resin, including in the recited amount, is an obvious modification suggested by Shiiki.
Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0043602 (“Uchigata”) in view of 4,785,057 (“Shiiki”) as applied to claim 15, further in view of EP 0102705 B1 (“Atsushi”).
As to claim 15, Uchigata does not discuss the amount of the resin. However, Atsushi teaches a sizing for carbon fiber, by applying 0.03 to 1 wt percent of the carbon fiber by which it is bundled, thus having resin filled between filaments, and 0.1 to 10 percent of epoxy resin (3:11-20). Atsushi teaches the resin used in bundling fibers includes epoxy resin (3:35-39). Applying such amounts to the compositions to the long fiber reinforcing pellets of Uchigata, which teaches a preferable amount of fiber of 5 to 69 parts by mass (Uchigata, para. 0058), provides between 0.006 and 7 wt percent of resins including epoxy resins, including resins filled between filaments. Atsushi teaches such fiber has excellent compatibility and physical properties (2:39-44). As such, the use of the recited amount of resins including epoxy resins is an obvious modification suggested by Uchigata in view of Atsushi.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 20 January 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Specifically, the epoxy resin sizing agents appear to be the same as sizing agents, and given that they are used for bundling together filaments, it is reasonable to expect that such resin would fill between individual filaments. Applicant’s arguments concerning the amount of such resins is obvious over art such as Atsushi, which suggests amounts of epoxy sizing agents providing the recited amount, and Shiiki, which suggests minor amounts of epoxy resins.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KREGG T BROOKS whose telephone number is (313)446-4888. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 9 am to 5:30 pm.
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/KREGG T BROOKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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