1-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 .
Claim Interpretation
Instant claims are directed to a composition comprising milled oil seed meal. Milled oil seed meal is interpreted as the solid residue remaining after oil has been extracted from oil seeds such as soybean or canola. As such when prior art teaches seeds that are defatted such seed will mee the definition of seed oil meal. Meal inherently means that the seeds have to be milled.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-16, 18, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang (US 6,632,925) in view of evidence in US 5,710,190).
With respect to claim 1, 3, 6-8, 15, 18, Zhang teaches biodegradable plant protein composites. According to claims 1 of Zhang the composition comprises 5-95% by weight of PLA and 95-5% by weight of plant protein.
The plant protein commercial product used (see 2nd Table in col. 4) is ADM defatted mean, which will automatically mean that the fats (oils) are removed from the meal.
According to table in col. 6, plasticizer is utilized in the amount of 0-10% by weight. Plasticizers polyols and higher molecular weight alcohols such as polyvinyl alcohol which has a melting point of 180-190oC (col. 5, 22—30) which also meets limitation of instant claim 7.
With respect to claim 2, in addition to PLA other polymers include polycaprolactone (2nd Table in col. 4).
With respect to claims 5, 9, 10 and 19, Zhang indicated that additives and fillers that can be utilized are disclosed in US 5,710,190 incorporating the disclosure into his teachings. According to ‘190 fillers are utilized in amount of 5-20 parts by weight(col. 4, l. 15-62) and include other proteins such as grains (wheat, corn) beans and the like, cellulose.
With respect to claim 11, Zhang utilizes compatibilizers (see tables) other additives include coloring agents, lubricants and the like (col. 8, lines 31-35) further relying on ‘190 to supplement types of additives.
With respect to claim 12 and 16, Zhang processes the composition using twin screw extruder at a temperature range of 75-155oC (depending on the zone) (col. 8, l. 40-53) and pelletized. Pellets are injection molded into a mold that is maintained at 23oC which will inherently cool the composite into desired shape.
With respect to claim 13, the screws of the twin screw extruder inherently create shearing effect.
With respect to claim 14, protein soy protein are first extruded into pellets and dried (intermediate) then are mixed with polyester to achieve better compatibility (col. 9, l. 1-9).
With respect to claim 17, articles formed from the composition of Zhang include packaging materials such as clam shell containers (single serve packaging), dishware, utensils.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 4 lists very specific milled oil seed meal which includes: milled borage meal, milled rose hip meal, milled ahi flower meal, milled evening primrose meal, milled black currant meal and mixtures thereof.
Any references found discloses using oils of these seeds but not milled solid residue.
Correspondence
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/KATARZYNA I KOLB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1767 July 31, 2025