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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Although applicant had requested to USPTO to retrieve the Foreign Priority Document on May 7, 2023, somehow the PTO file does not show the Foreign Priority Document. Note that it would be applicant’s ultimate responsibility to make sure that the PTO file has the Foreign Priority Document.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 and 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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 1-3, 8-13 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being
anticipated by Machine translated JP 2005506389 A (March 3, 2005).
Rejection is maintained for reason of the record.
RESPONSE TO ARGUMENTS
Applicant asserts that JP refers to solids content of < 25% in the composition fed into the extruder (Para. [0025]), the para. [0025] teaches away from “more than 25% solids” which would include 25% further evidenced by abstract contrary to assertions.
Applicant asserts that JP teaches “steam explosion” which would be different the instant process, the examiner interprets the recited “adjusting a pressure (12) acting on the mixture to at least the vapor pressure of water at a first temperature” of claim 1 would encompass the “steam explosion” taught by JP since the recited “to at least the vapor pressure of water” would be a minimum condition and scope of “to at least the vapor pressure of water at a first temperature” would encompass beyond the minimum condition such as the asserted sufficiently high temperature and pressure taught by JP contrary to the assertion that the instant pressure is such that the water in the mixture remains liquid. In other words, there is no limitation in the instant claims that the instant pressure must yield the water in the mixture being the liquid.
Applicant asserts a low residual moisture content of 10-20% for example, but % residual moisture content is not the claimed limitation.
Claims 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Machine translated JP 2005506389 A (March 3, 2005) as applied to claims 1-3, 8-13 and 15-17 above, and further in view of Larsen (US 5,502,179).
Rejection is maintained for reason of the record.
RESPONSE TO ARGUMENTS
Responses to arguments as to JP are discussed above.
JP teaches utilization of various substances (additives) such as various
esters which are known plasticizers taught in line 21 at col. 5 of US 5,502.179.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Machine
translated JP 2005506389 A (March 3, 2005) as applied to claims 1-3, 8-13 and 15-17
above, and further in view of Machine translated JP 2001506692 A (May 22, 2001).
Rejection is maintained for reason of the record.
RESPONSE TO ARGUMENTS
Responses to arguments as to JP are discussed above and applicant failed to point out any error of the Examiner citing JP 2001506692 A teaching the art well injection molding used for obtaining the capsules.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 TAE H YOON whose telephone number is (571)272-1128. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri.
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, Robert Jones can be reached at (571)270-7733. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TAE H YOON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762