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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 14 and 15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on October 07, 2025.
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-13 in the reply filed on October 07, 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that there is no serious search burden. This is not found persuasive because a serious search burden is prima facie shown when different inventions are classified in different areas; see MPEP 803 (II).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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(s) 1-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshimoto (US 20180010290 A1), and further in view of Sugiyama (US 20100179287 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 8, Yoshimoto discloses the composition of a water/oil repelling agent containing a fluorine containing polymer composed of:
A compound represented by the formula (Z-Y)nX, (Yoshimoto [0056]) where Z is a perfluoroalkyl group with 1 to 6 carbon groups and a group of CiF2i + 1 O ( CFX1 CF2O)k (Yoshimoto [0057]); CFX2 – where i ( ‘j’ in the instant claim) is an integer from 1 to 6, j ( ‘k’ in the instant claim) is an integer from 1 to 10, X1 and X2 are a fluorine atom or a trifluoromethyl group (Yoshimoto [0057]) Y (‘Q’ in the instant claim) is a divalent organic group or a single bond (Yoshimoto [0060]), n is 1 or 2 (Yoshimoto [0063]). The prior art further teaches that when n is 1, the X group is represented by CR = CH2, - C ( O )OCR= CH2, OC ( O ) CR = CH2, OCH2 - Φ - CR = CH2 , or OCH = CH2 . When n is 2, the X group is represented by - CH [ ( CH2 ) mCR = CH2 ] — , - CH [ — ( CH2 )mC ( O ) OCR = CH2 ] — , - CH [ — ( CH2 ) mOC ( O ) CR = CH2 ] —, or - OC ( O ) CH = CHC( O )O, where R is a hydrogen atom, a methyl atom, or a halogen atom, Φ is a phenylene group, and m is an integer between 0 to 4 (Yoshimoto [0064]).
Yoshimoto lists more monomers such as monomer (b) where the prior art states, “The monomer ( b ) is a (meth) acrylate having no R--f group (R--f refers to a compound from monomer (a)) that is representative of a polyfluorene alkyl group) and having an alkyl group with at least 20 carbon atoms.” (referring to b-1) (Yoshimoto [0064]) . Monomer ‘b’ (referring to monomer b-2) is later defined as having an alkyl group with 22 carbon atoms(Yoshimoto [00179]). Monomer ‘f’ (referring to monomer b-3) is defined as stearyl acrylate is representative of a polyfluorene alkyl group) and having an alkyl group with 18 carbon atoms which (Yoshimoto [00185]). Monomer d (which refers to ‘(c)’ in the instant claim ) is defined as a halogenated olefin (Yoshimoto [0081]).
While Yoshimoto does not disclose a proportion of monomers similar to the instant claims, Sugiyama teaches polymers where C6FMA (monomer a) has a weight percentage of 78.8. Furthermore, monomers b-1 and b-2 (which is monomer c in the instant claims) are combined to result in a mass percentage of 12 (Sugiyama [Table 3]) . In the prior art monomer d is connected to monomer b in Yoshimoto due to the absence of a Rf group and a cross linkable functional group (Sugiyama [0165]) which can contain between 18-22 carbon atoms. With this in mind monomer d (monomer b in the instant claims) is 4.4 mass percent (Sugiyama [Table 3]). Sugiyama discloses that by the reducing the amount of monomers with at least 8 carbons, the friction durability that the oil/water repellant can apply is increased (Sugiyama [0036-0037]).Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would’ve applied the proportional values of Sugiyama to Yoshimoto, to make an agent that contains a large amount of monomers with 6 carbon atoms compared to other monomer types in order to increase the friction durability of the oil/water repellant.
Regarding claims 2 and 9, Yoshimoto does not disclose a ratio in which b1-3 are combined to form monomer b. However, the amount of b1,b2, and b3 components are result effective variables, as Sugiyama has indicated that a combination of monomer (b) [b-1 and b-2 in the instant claims] and monomer (d) [b-3 in the instant claims] would modify the adhesion quality of the product (Sugiyama [0082]). It would not be inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges of result-effective variables by routine experimentation In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 276 (CCPA 1980) ("[D]iscovery of an optimum value of a result effective variable in a known process is ordinarily within the skill of the art."); "Only if the 'results of optimizing a variable’ are 'unexpectedly good' can a patent be obtained for the claimed critical range." In re Geisler, 116 F.3d 1465, 1470 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (quoting In re Antonie, 559 F.2d 618, 620 (CCPA 1977)).It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to determine the proportions of stearyl (b3), behenyl (b1), and arachidyl (b2) in the range of the claims, in order to enhance the adhesion of the product.
Regarding claims 3 and 10, Yoshimoto discloses monomer b in the form of behenyl acrylate (Yoshimoto [00179]) and monomer f as stearyl acrylate (Yoshimoto [00185]). This disclosure fulfills the limitation set in the instant claims requiring the composition of monomers (b1-3) to be an acrylate.
Regarding claim 4, Yoshimoto discloses that in monomer (a), Z is a C1-6 perfluoroalkyl group (Yoshimoto [0034]), and X as CR = CH2 and - C ( O )OCR= CH2 (Yoshimoto [0064]) when n is 1. Since perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl both refers to PFAS, which means their properties has significant overlap, this disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claims requiring in monomer a to be a polyfluoroalkyl group of 1 to 6 carbon atoms when n is 1 and X is represented by CR = CH2 or - C ( O )OCR= CH2.
Regarding claim 5, Yoshimoto discloses that in monomer (a), Z is a C1-6 perfluoroalkyl group (Yoshimoto [0034]). Since perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl both refers to PFAS, which means their properties has significant overlap, this disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claim requiring the Z in monomer a to be composed of polyfluoroalkyl group of 6 carbon atoms.
Regarding claims 6 and 12, Yoshimoto discloses various types of surfactants that can be used in the composition of the repelling agent, some of which are nonionic (Yoshimoto [0124]) and without any cations. Therefore, this disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claims requiring the composition of not contain a cationic surfactant.
Regarding claims 7 and 13, Yoshimoto teaches that various organic solvents can be used such as glycols, glycol ester, and glycol ether (Yoshimoto [0113]). Glycerol also known as glycerin, is a type of glycerol with a boiling point of 290°C. Therefore, this disclosure fulfills the limitation set in the instant claims requiring the organic solvent to have a boiling point at atmospheric pressure of 280°C or higher.
Regarding claim 11, Yoshimoto discloses an example where the monomer components are polymerized a solution with water(Yoshimoto [0195]), PEO-30 a type of surfactant (Yoshimoto [0188, 0195]), and VA061, a polymerization initiator (Yoshimoto [0195]). Therefore, this disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claim requiring the monomer component to be polymerized in a medium containing water, and in the presence of a polymerization initiator and surfactant.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANNETTE H PHAN whose telephone number is (703)756-4520. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-6:30 EST.
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/ANNETTE PHAN/Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/ANTHONY J ZIMMER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1736