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 .
Priority
This application was filed 03/03/2023 and is a 371 of PCT/US2021/049621 (09/09/2021) which has PRO 63/076577 (09/10/2020). Claims 13, 17-18 and 20-34 have been canceled. Claims -12, 14-16 and 19 are before the Examiner.
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.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu and Zhang. Xu teaches compound 40 on page 3145 where the difference between compound 40 and the 7th compound of claim 19 is Cl vs Br. Xu teaches multiple halogens in the same position with no change in their position. Zhang teaches multiple compounds as herbicides such as #53 (where F is in the place of the instantly claimed Br) and #25 having Br in 3-position vs 4-position. Both of these compounds are herbicides and are made in the same process. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to make the same compound with a different halogen with the reasonable expectation of getting a compound having the same or similar properties. Rationale: Both Xu and Zhang teach that various halogens can be in the same position on a compound all without changing the activity of the compound.
Conclusion
Claims 1-12 and 14-16 are allowed. Claim 19 is rejected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to D MARGARET M SEAMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-0694. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-4pm Eastern.
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/D MARGARET M SEAMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1625