DETAILED ACTION
Summary
Applicant’s amendment dated 20 April 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1-14 are pending. Claims 6-7 and 12-14 are withdrawn from consideration.
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 the amendment dated 20 April 2026. For this reason, this action is properly made final.
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 .
Drawings
The corrected drawings were received on 20 April 2026. These drawings are accepted. The objection to the drawings set forth in the previous office action is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1-4 and 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites, on the second page, a limitation on the recited Q formulas “the side where A1, A2, or A3 is present connects to a polyfluoropolyether chain”. It is not clear whether “a polyfluoropolyether chain” is recited a new part of the recited formulas or if it is a part of the formula which has been previously recited. If the intent of this recitation is to show the orientation of the recited Q formulas within the greater Formula (A1) or Formula (A2), examiner recommends reciting that the side where A1, A2, or A3 is present connects to the polyfluoropolyether chains in those formulas, perhaps including -(CHF)m3-O-(CHF)m4-, -(CHF)m5-O-(CHF)m6-, or -(CHF)m10-O-(CHF)m11- as the groups that the A-groups are connected to. This would match the recitation of how the other side is connected to T1, T2, or T3. Claims 2-4 and 8-11 are also rejected because they depend upon, and therefore include, Claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by OLAH (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 18 (1979)).
Regarding Claim 5, OLAH teaches the preparation and characterization of formic anhydride (Figure):
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This satisfies Formula (B2) where m7=m8=m9=0 which satisfies the recited requirements that m8 is an integer from 0 to 210 and m7 and m9 are each independently 0 or 1.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by SULBAEK ANDERSEN (J Phys Chem A (2004)).
Regarding Claim 5, SULBAEK ANDERSEN teaches forming the diformate compound H(O)CO(CF2CF2O)nC(O)H were n is 1-3 (Abstract; p. 1967: right side, lines 5-6) and reports its infrared spectrum (Fig. 3C). This structure satisfies formula (B2) as recited by the claim where m7=m9=0, Rf2 is -CF2CF2- which is a fluoroalkylene group with a carbon number of 2, and m8 is 1-3. These structures are registered in CAS with numbers 681294-22-4 and 681294-24-6.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by MARCHIONNI (US-20110213182-A1).
Regarding Claim 5, MARCHIONNI teaches an aldehyde having the structure ([0026])
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where Rf is a perfluoro(oxy)alkyl group ([0011]). This overlaps the recited structure for (B1) where R1=CH2, Rf1 is -CHFCF2- which is a fluoroalkylene group having two carbons and the Rf overlaps the perfluoroalkyl requirement recited by the claim. MARCHIONNI exemplifies the following aldehyde ([0056]):
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which satisfies the formula (B1) where R1=CH2, Rf1 = -CHFCF2- and Rf is CF3CF2- which is a perfluoroalkyl group with two carbons.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4 and 8-11 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art, HOSHINO (WO-2019049753-A1), cited in the previous office action teaches fluorine-containing ether compounds which satisfy the polyfluoroether and adhesive group sections of Formula (A1), but HOSHINO teaches and exemplifies Q groups which contain fluoroalkyl sections which are now out of scope of Claim 1. The prior art does not teach fluorine-containing ether compounds with a -CHF-O- or -O-CHF- group at the location between the polyfluoroether and nonfluoro-hydrocarbon linking Q-sections of the chain as is now recited by both Formula (A1) and (A2) of Claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claim 5 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The amendments to the drawings have overcome the issue where the drawings contained a reference label which was not mentioned in the specification. The objection to the drawing has been withdrawn.
The amendment to Claim 11 changing the claim dependency has overcome the antecedency issue associated with “the composition”. Claim 11 now depends on Claim 8 which is directed to a composition. The rejection under 35 USC 112(b) has been withdrawn.
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.
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/D.R.F./Examiner, Art Unit 1764
/KREGG T BROOKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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