DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 02/09/2026 is entered and acknowledged by the Examiner. Claims 1, and 24 have been amended. Claims 10-11 and 17-19 have been canceled. New claims 25-29 have been added. Claims 1-9, 12-16 and 20-29 are currently pending in the instant application.
The rejection of claims 1-9, 12-16 and 20-24 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brandhorst (WO 2019092378, an English equivalent is to US 20210155770 A1 is applied) is maintained.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 02/09/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The amended feature of “the peroxide-modified inorganic solid particle exhibits at least one peak at about 800 cm⁻¹ and/or at about 3400 cm⁻¹, measured by Raman spectroscopy” recited in claims 1 and 24 have been noted. However, the peak is a result of a solid particle product. Since Brandhorst discloses a structurally similar solid particle product, the solid particle product of solid particle product is expected to have a peak as claimed because structurally similar solid particle would have the same or similar peak measured by Raman spectroscopy. Based on this rationale, the rejection is maintained.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) filed on 01/21/2026, 02/27/2026 and 04/28/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and have been considered by the examiner. An initialed copy accompanies this Office Action.
(New Grounds of Rejection)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 25-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over an article to “Adsorption of Hydrogen Peroxide on the Surface of Titanium Dioxide” (hereinafter Boonstra).
Boonstra disclose discloses a process of treating titanium dioxide powders with a solution of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to form a hydrogen peroxide modified titanium dioxide powder (See page 1942, Discussion Section).
Boonstra failed to anticipate the instant claims because Boonstra does not explicitly disclose the titanium dioxide powder (claimed inorganic particle) having affinity to the hydrogen peroxide through hydrogen bonding as required in the instant claims.
Given that the titanium dioxide powder (claimed inorganic solid particle) is reacted with a solution of hydrogen peroxide (See page 1942, Discussion Section), the titanium dioxide powder is in contact and reactive with the hydrogen peroxide. Therefore, it would have been obvious for the titanium dioxide powder to have affinity to the hydrogen peroxide through hydrogen bonding as required in the instant claims because the same titanium dioxide power(inorganic solid particle) in the same chemical environment (a solution of hydrogen peroxide) would be expected to have the same result, i.e., titanium dioxide power to have affinity to the hydrogen peroxide through hydrogen bonding as claimed.
In view of the foregoing, the above claims have failed to patentably distinguish over the applied art.
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 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.
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 KHANH TUAN NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8082. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM 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.
/KHANH T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761