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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/20/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S.
Patent Pub. No. 2018/002871 to Muller et al.
As to claims 12 and 14, it is noted that claims 12 and 14 claim a polyoxazolidione all elected claims are recited in the product-by-process format by use of the language, "A thermoplastic polyoxazolidione formed from a method comprising..." Case law holds that: Even though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process. See In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
To the extent that the process limitations in a product-by-process claim do not carry
weight absent a showing of criticality, the reference discloses the claimed product in the sense
that the prior art product structure is seen to be no different from that indicated by the claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2, 4-11, 13, and 16-22 are allowable over the prior art. The closest prior art fails to teach a process for preparing a thermoplastic polyoxazolidinone using a substituted or unsubstituted aryl nitrile component as solvent wherein a calculated mass ratio of diisocyanate, diepoxides, a compound (D) to the sum of the same and the claimed solvent in amounts that range from 10 to 90 wt%.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL L LEONARD whose telephone number is (571)270-7450. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 7:00-4:00.
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/MICHAEL L LEONARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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