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 .
This office action is in response to applicant’s amendment filed on March 23, 2026. Claims 1, 3-5,7 and 8 are pending. Claims 2 and 6 have been cancelled. Claims 1,3,4 and 7 have been amended. Claims 7 and 8 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim 1 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gandhi (US2020/0163333) in view of Moreira (US 2017/0247409) for the reasons set forth below.
Claims 3-5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gandhi (US2020/0163333) in view of Moreira (US 2017/0247409) and further in view of Sawan (WO 99/40791) for the reasons set forth below.
All other rejections are withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendments to the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gandhi (US2020/0163333) in view of Moreira (US 2017/0247409).
Gandhi teaches preparing antimicrobial compositions including with a allophane particle carriers (paragraph 0101) and copper antimicrobials (paragraph 0093) for use in medical applications or in food packaging films (porous membrane, paragraph 0007, 0025). Gandhi teaches a composite with the composition applied to or arranged on a substrate (base material) such as food or fiber or cloth (paragraph 0025), which meets the claimed limitation of antimicrobial porous membrane arranged on a base material. Gandhi teaches mixing the antimicrobial agent with the carrier, wherein after the mixing the carrier is still in particle form and antimicrobial agents are adsorbed directly on the surface of the particles (paragraph 0026). Gandhi teaches binders are optional (paragraph 0103) so direct application can occur without a holding agent. Gandhi teaches the allophane is porous thus application of an antimicrobial composition to the surface would allow penetration of the antimicrobial composition into the carrier.
Gandhi does not teach the addition of the abietane-type diterpenoids and does not teach abietic or dehydroabietic.
Moreira teaches surfaces coated with gels of abietane-type diterpenoid compounds such as abietic acid, and dehydroabietic acid that absorb on the surface and can be used in medical devices or food related surfaces (paragraphs 0003-0004, 0050, 0178-0179; 0181, 0183).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the antimicrobial coating and film compositions (porous membranes) applied on fabric or food substrates bases of Gandhi by incorporating antimicrobial abietic acid and dehydroabietic acids as the antimicrobial treatment on the allophane carrier surface as Moreira teach these are effective antimicrobial agents used in surface coatings for medical devices of food related surfaces and when they absorb onto the surface they provide antimicrobial benefits to the treated surface. Gandhi invites the inclusion of antimicrobial agents applied on to allophane particle with direct adsorption and formed into porous films that are wrapped or coated onto medical devices and food packaging. The coatings and films are porous and can accept the coating material to permit it to be adsorbed directly on the surface of the allophane particles without a holding material as Gandhi teaches using binders are optional.
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gandhi (US2020/0163333) in view of Moreira (US 2017/0247409) and further in view of Sawan (WO 99/40791).
Gandhi and Moreira are relied upon as set forth above.
Gandhi and Moreira do not teach inorganic salts and metal ions of silver of copper adsorbed on the surface particle.
Sawan teaches antimicrobial film coatings on surfaces advantageously comprise silver or copper salts to provide immediate antimicrobial disinfection to the surface (page 2, lines 14-20; page 5, lines 19-30).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the coatings of Gandhi and Moreira by adding the copper, silver or platinum salts which include ions of the metals to provide additional antimicrobial benefit to the treatments as Sawan teaches these salts provide immediate antimicrobial disinfection to the surface in a durably non-leaching manner. The salts would adsorb onto the surface of the porous allophane particles as this is a chemical interaction that occurs by combining the identical components together.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed regarding Gandhi and Moreira alone or further in view of Sawan have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The examiner argues Gandhi teaches a composite with the composition applied to or arranged on a substrate (base material) such as food or fiber or cloth (paragraph 0025), which meets the broad claimed limitation of antimicrobial porous membrane arranged on a base material. Applicant has not defined “arranged on a base” so a simple wrapping meets this limitation. However Gandhi does teach a composite of the composition on a base such as a fabric, which is applicant’s intended structure. Gandhi teaches mixing the antimicrobial agent with the carrier, wherein after the mixing the carrier is still in particle form and antimicrobial agents are adsorbed directly on the surface of the particles (paragraph 0026). Gandhi teaches binders are optional (paragraph 0103) so direct application can occur without a holding agent. Gandhi teaches the allophane is porous thus application of an antimicrobial composition to the surface would allow penetration of the antimicrobial composition into the carrier. It would be obvious to incorporate known antimicrobial agents such as those disclosed by Moreira as these agents are taught to produce antimicrobial benefits to surfaces they are applied to. Using a known effective antimicrobial agent to apply to a surface to enhance the antimicrobial properties of that surface is obvious especially in a coating the inclusion of antimicrobial agents. Sawan is simply relied upon to demonstrate antimicrobial film coatings on surfaces advantageously comprise silver or copper salts to provide immediate antimicrobial disinfection to the surface, the structure is already taught by Gandhi in view of Moreira. Accordingly, the rejections are maintained.
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 AMINA S KHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5573. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-5:30pm EST.
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) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/AMINA S KHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
Prosecution Insights