DETAILED ACTION
Applicant’s response filed on 03/17/2026 has been fully considered. Claims 1 and 6-10 are pending. Claims 1 and 7-9 are amended. Claims 2-5 are canceled. Claims 7-10 are withdrawn.
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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokoyama et al. (US 2008/0260979 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Yokoyama teaches a molded article produced by transferring a polyester resin produced in a polymerization reactor to a molding machine for molding with the molten state maintained without solidification [0266], wherein the polyester resin is produced in a polymerization method in which a polymerization intermediate of a polyester resin capable of being polymerized by a melt condensation reaction is fed into a polymerization reactor from a raw material feed opening in a molten state, discharged through holes of a perforated plate, and then polymerized under a reduced pressure or an inert gas atmosphere under a reduced pressure while falling under gravity along a support [0080], wherein the polymerization intermediate is produced by a method [0115] in which TPA and EG are made to undergo an esterification reaction to obtain BHET [0119], and BHET obtained by the method is subsequently subjected to polycondensation to produce a polymerization intermediate [0123], wherein it is desirable to use a polycondensation catalyst for polycondensation of BHET [0125], wherein preferable examples of the polycondensation catalyst include tin compounds [0125], wherein the amount of polycondensation catalyst added is preferably in the range of 0.0005 to 1% by weight based on the weight of the polymerization intermediate [0127], wherein specifically, the amount of polycondensation catalyst is preferably a used amount of at least one catalyst in an amount of 3 to 300 ppm as a total amount of metal atoms, selected from an Sn catalyst in an amount less than 50 ppm, based on the amount of polymerization intermediate [0129], wherein a compound capable of catalyzing polymerization and containing tin is tin acetate [0226], which suggests selecting tin acetate that is tin(II) acetate as Yokoyama’s polycondensation catalyst, which reads on a polyester molded body formed with polyester prepared using a tin compound, that is optionally a stannous tin compound, as a polymerization catalyst, wherein the polyester molded body comprises a residue of the tin compound, that is optionally the stannous tine compound, in an amount of 5 ppm to 10,000 ppm, and wherein the tin compound, that is optionally the stannous tin compound, is optionally selected from stannous acetate. The ppm is based on the calculations 0.0005 / 100 * 1,000,000 = 5 and 1 / 100 * 1,000,000 = 10,000.
Yokoyama does not teach a specific embodiment in which the tin compound is a stannous tin compound, that the amount of a residue of the stannous tin compound in the polyester molded body is 10 ppm to 200 ppm, and that the stannous tin compound is selected from the claimed group. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to select Yokoyama’s polycondensation catalyst to be Yokoyama’s tin acetate that is tin(II) acetate, and to optimize the amount of Yokoyama’s polycondensation catalyst to be from 0.001 to 0.02% by weight based on the weight of Yokoyama’s polymerization intermediate in Yokoyama’s polymerization method for producing Yokoyama’s polyester resin in Yokoyama’s molded article. The proposed modification would read on the tin compound is a stannous tin compound, the amount of a residue of the stannous tin compound in the polyester molded body is 10 ppm to 200 ppm, and the stannous tin compound is selected from stannous acetate as claimed. The ppm is based on the calculations 0.001 / 100 * 1,000,000 = 10 and 0.02 / 100 * 1,000,000 = 200. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial for modifying catalysis of Yokoyama’s polycondensation of BHET, for modifying reduction of Yokoyama’s polycondensation time, for optimizing an extent of catalysis of Yokoyama’s polycondensation of BHET, and for optimizing an extent of reduction of Yokoyama’s polycondensation time because Yokoyama teaches that it is desirable to use a polycondensation catalyst for polycondensation of BHET [0125], that preferable examples of the polycondensation catalyst include tin compounds [0125], that use of the polycondensation catalyst can dramatically reduce the polycondensation time [0125], that the amount of polycondensation catalyst added is preferably in the range of 0.0005 to 1% by weight based on the weight of the polymerization intermediate [0127], that specifically, the amount of polycondensation catalyst is preferably a used amount of at least one catalyst in an amount of 3 to 300 ppm as a total amount of metal atoms, selected from an Sn catalyst in an amount less than 50 ppm, based on the amount of polymerization intermediate [0129], that a compound capable of catalyzing polymerization and containing tin is tin acetate [0226], that the polyester resin is produced in a polymerization method in which a polymerization intermediate of a polyester resin capable of being polymerized by a melt condensation reaction is fed into a polymerization reactor from a raw material feed opening in a molten state, discharged through holes of a perforated plate, and then polymerized under a reduced pressure or an inert gas atmosphere under a reduced pressure while falling under gravity along a support [0080], that the polymerization intermediate is produced by a method [0115] in which TPA and EG are made to undergo an esterification reaction to obtain BHET [0119], and that BHET obtained by the method is subsequently subjected to polycondensation to produce a polymerization intermediate [0123], which means that the amount of Yokoyama’s polycondensation catalyst to be from 0.001 to 0.02% by weight based on the weight of Yokoyama’s polymerization intermediate in Yokoyama’s polymerization method for producing Yokoyama’s polyester resin in Yokoyama’s molded article would have affected an extent of catalysis of Yokoyama’s polycondensation of BHET and an extent of reduction of Yokoyama’s polycondensation time.
Regarding claim 6, Yokoyama teaches that the polyester resin [0080] is a polyethylene terephthalate resin [0115], which reads on wherein the polyester is one selected from polyethylene terephthalate as claimed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see p. 5, filed 03/17/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 2-4 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, are moot since claims 2-4 are canceled.
Applicant’s arguments, see p. 5, filed 03/17/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 3 and 4 under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 4th paragraph, are moot since claims 3 and 4 are canceled.
Applicant’s arguments, see p. 5-6, filed 03/17/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1 and 6 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yokoyama et al. (US 2008/0260979 A1) have been fully considered and are responded to by the new grounds of rejection that is set forth in this Office action.
Applicant's arguments filed 03/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In response to the applicant’s argument that nothing in Yokoyama teaches or suggest a polymerization catalyst being a stannous selected from the group consisting of stannous pyrophosphate, stannous phosphate, stannous tartrate, stannous acetate, stannous stearate, stannous oleate, stannous gluconate, and stannous citrate, and that Yokoyama fails to disclose or suggest the stannous tin compound is selected from the group consisting of stannous pyrophosphate, stannous phosphate, stannous tartrate, stannous acetate, stannous stearate, stannous oleate, stannous gluconate, and stannous citrate (p. 6), Yokoyama teaches that the polyester resin is produced in a polymerization method in which a polymerization intermediate of a polyester resin capable of being polymerized by a melt condensation reaction is fed into a polymerization reactor from a raw material feed opening in a molten state, discharged through holes of a perforated plate, and then polymerized under a reduced pressure or an inert gas atmosphere under a reduced pressure while falling under gravity along a support [0080], wherein the polymerization intermediate is produced by a method [0115] in which TPA and EG are made to undergo an esterification reaction to obtain BHET [0119], and BHET obtained by the method is subsequently subjected to polycondensation to produce a polymerization intermediate [0123], wherein it is desirable to use a polycondensation catalyst for polycondensation of BHET [0125], wherein preferable examples of the polycondensation catalyst include tin compounds [0125], wherein a compound capable of catalyzing polymerization and containing tin is tin acetate [0226], which suggests selecting tin acetate that is tin(II) acetate as Yokoyama’s polycondensation catalyst, which reads on a tin compound, that is optionally a stannous tin compound, wherein the tin compound, that is optionally the stannous tin compound, is optionally selected from stannous acetate. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to select Yokoyama’s polycondensation catalyst to be Yokoyama’s tin acetate that is tin(II) acetate. The proposed modification would read on the tin compound is a stannous tin compound, and the stannous tin compound is selected from stannous acetate as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial for modifying catalysis of Yokoyama’s polycondensation of BHET, and for modifying reduction of Yokoyama’s polycondensation time because Yokoyama teaches that it is desirable to use a polycondensation catalyst for polycondensation of BHET [0125], that preferable examples of the polycondensation catalyst include tin compounds [0125], that use of the polycondensation catalyst can dramatically reduce the polycondensation time [0125], that a compound capable of catalyzing polymerization and containing tin is tin acetate [0226], that the polyester resin is produced in a polymerization method in which a polymerization intermediate of a polyester resin capable of being polymerized by a melt condensation reaction is fed into a polymerization reactor from a raw material feed opening in a molten state, discharged through holes of a perforated plate, and then polymerized under a reduced pressure or an inert gas atmosphere under a reduced pressure while falling under gravity along a support [0080], that the polymerization intermediate is produced by a method [0115] in which TPA and EG are made to undergo an esterification reaction to obtain BHET [0119], and that BHET obtained by the method is subsequently subjected to polycondensation to produce a polymerization intermediate [0123].
Applicant’s arguments, see p. 6, filed 03/17/2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 5 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokoyama et al. (US 2008/0260979 A1) have been fully considered and are moot because claim 5 is canceled.
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.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID KARST whose telephone number is (571)270-7732. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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/DAVID T KARST/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1767
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