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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-21, and Species I, claim 3 in the reply filed on 08/06/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1-27 are pending with claims 1-3, 5-16, 20, and 21 being examined herein and with claims 4, 17, 18, and 19 being withdrawn as being unelected species and claims 22-27 being withdrawn as an unelected group.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-16, 20, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jiang et al (Highly stable poly(p-quaterphenylene alykylene)-based anion exchange membranes; Journal of Membrane Science; vol 647; published 02/04/2022; pgs 1-11).
Regarding claim 1-3 and 5-16, Jiang teaches an anion exchange membrane which is highly stable and conductive including a p-quaterphenylene moiety copolymerized into the poly(arylene alkylene)-based ionomers with pendant pentyltrimethylammonium group to improve the swelling resistance and mechanical robustness without compromising solubility (abstract). Jiang teaches the membrane to include the following component (Scheme 1, pg 3):
PNG
media_image1.png
182
458
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Greyscale
which is considered to meet the first structure instantly claimed.
Regarding claim 20, Jiang teaches the polydistribution index determined by GOC to be less than 2.7 (Table 1, PDI and section 2.7 General Characterization).
Regarding claim 21, Jiang teaches the membrane to be used in an anion exchange membrane fuel cell (Introduction, paragraph 1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH A SLIFKA whose telephone number is (571)270-5838. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm EST.
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/SARAH A. SLIFKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759 October 9, 2026
