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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-10, in the reply filed on February 3, 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that a thorough search for the subject matter of any one Group of claims would encompass a search for the subject matter of the remaining claims. This is not found persuasive because the examiner respectfully maintains that the process for using the product as claimed can be practiced with another materially different product, such as a bleaching composition. Accordingly, the examiner respectfully maintains that the distinct inventions would require separate and distinct searches.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 11-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 February 3, 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 3 is 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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, for not containing the abbreviation “CAS” for several chemical compounds. Specifically, the compound 3,5-dimethyldecane in line 6 of claim 3 contains the registry number “(17312-48-0)” without the “CAS” identifier. It is unclear if this compound is being identified by a CAS registry number or by a different chemical identification number. This issue also occurs for the compounds 2,3-dimethyldecane, 3,3-dimethyldecane, 3-methyldecane, nonane, and 2-methyloctane. Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 1-4 and 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Manzer, US 2005/0210738, as evidenced by Kendrick Oil Company, “What is Octane in Gasoline”.
Manzer, US 2005/0210738, discloses compositions comprising levulinic acid esters for use as fuel additives (see abstract and paragraph 1). It is further taught by Manzer that the levulinic acid ester has the structure depicted in paragraph 25, wherein R is a C1-20 alkyl group, which reads on the oxoester of formula 1 in the instant claims when R1 is a C2-7 alkyl group, R2 is hydrogen, n’ is 1, R3 is hydrogen, and R4 is a methyl group, that the levulinic acid esters are fuel additives for gasoline and biofuel compositions, wherein the biofuel contains vegetable oil (see paragraphs 27 and 54 and page 11, claim 13), and that the levulinic acid ester is present as a fuel additive in an amount of 1-50% by volume (see paragraph 54). Manzer further discloses that the levulinic acid ester improves the efficiency of the octane number in fuel compositions (see paragraph 51), and, as evidenced by Kendrick Oil Company, “What is Octane in Gasoline”, a fuel composition having an octane rating of 87 contains 87% octane molecules (i.e., component a) of the instant claims when n is 8; see paragraph 7 of Kendrick Oil Company, “What is Octane in Gasoline”).
Although Manzer generally discloses gasoline and biofuel compositions comprising levulinic acid esters in an amount of 1-50% by volume to improve the efficiency of the octane number in fuel compositions containing 87% octane molecules, the reference does not require such gasoline and biofuel compositions containing a mixture of 1-50% by volume of levulinic acid esters and octane with sufficient specificity to constitute anticipation.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have formulated a gasoline and biofuel composition, as taught by Manzer, which contained a mixture of 1-50% by volume of levulinic acid esters and octane, because such gasoline and biofuel compositions fall within the scope of those taught by Manzer. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success, because such gasoline and biofuel compositions containing a mixture of 1-50% by volume of levulinic acid esters and octane is expressly suggested by the Manzer disclosure and therefore is an obvious formulation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 10 are 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. Specifically, Manzer, US 2005/0210738, does not teach or suggest in general a composition containing 40-95% by volume of a mixture of decane and dodecane and 5-60% by volume of an oxoester of formula 1 or an aerosol composition containing 40-95% by volume of an alkane containing 8-12 carbon atoms, 5-60% by volume of an oxoester of formula 1, and a propellant gas, as required by applicant in instant claims 5 and 10.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN P MRUK whose telephone number is (571)272-1321. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:00am-5:30pm Monday-Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew, can be reached on 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRIAN P MRUK/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
Brian P Mruk
February 26, 2026