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 have properties measured using ISO 1183:1999, ASTM D 822-17, ASTM D 2840-69, ASTM D 3102-71. These standards have equivalents which will be also considered when determining the patentability of instant claims. ISO 1883 is equivalent to ASTM D1505 and ASTM D 792. ASTM D 822 is equivalent to ISO 527-3. ASTM D2840 is equivalent to ISO 12937, and ISO 8295, ASTM D3102 is equivalent to ISO 1288-5 and ISO 13320. Any of these methods will meet the claims depending on the property that is claimed.
Claim 9 is interpreted as having hollow glass beads of any compressive strength as it does not include any value of the compressive strength.
Most recent version of claims is dated 4/23/2023.
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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 4-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2020/094624 to Stoppelman (as submitted by applicants, WIPO priority document is utilized as translation Wo document qualifies as (102(a)1 and 102(a)2 reference).
With respect to claim 1, Stoppelman discloses composition comprising (see page 3 of translation):
55-85 wt% of polyamide
7-20 wt% of hollow glass spheres
8-20 wt% of carbon fibers
0-5.0 wt% of at least one additive.
Wherein content of components A-D results in 100%. Polyamide of Stoppelman is defined as amorphous polyamide, which includes polyetheramides as disclosed on page 7, line 4. Mixtures of polyamides can also be utilized (page 8). It should be noted that according to list of components in Table 1 (page 21 of the translation) Stoppelman discloses glass spheres having the same tradename iM16K as that utilized by the applicants.
With respect to claim 4, Stoppelman discloses that the polyamide has to have density of 1.10 g/cm3 or less, wherein density is measures using ISO 1183:3-1999 (see page 3) of the translation.
With respect to claim 5, the composition of Stoppelman has density of less than 1.01 g/cm3 (Table 2).
With respect to claim 6, hollow filler of Stoppelman are glass spheres which are hollow (description starts on the bottom of page 9).
With respect to claim 7, hollow glass spheres have volume mean diameter of 10-80 microns in accordance with ASTM B 822-10 (page 10 of the translation), wherein difference between B822-10 and B822-17 are minor editorial changes clarifying procedures for light scattering/laser diffraction techniques, specifically definition, updated safety precautions and text clarification.
With respect to claim 8, the hollow glass beads of Stoppelman have density of 0.2-0.6 g/cm3 according to ASTM D2840-69 (page 10 of the translation).
With respect to claim 9, hollow glass beads of Stoppelman have compressive strength of at least 50MPa according to ASTM D3102-72 which meets claim 9, especially when claim 9 does not provide any numerical value for compressive strength (see page 10 of the translation).
With respect to claims 10 and 11, polyamide polymer may include block comprising PA11, PA12, PA610, PA612, PA 1010 and PA 1012 (see page 6 of the translation).
With respect to claim 12, additives of Stoppelman as described on page 13 of the translation include fillers, pigments, nucleating agents, stabilizers, release agents, lubricants, antioxidants, organic pigments, dyes, impact modifiers such as polyolefin grafted with acid functional group, styrene polymers (page 14 of the translation) and the like.
With respect to claim 13-15, the composition of Stoppelman is utilized to make molded article, which is made using injection molding (pages 16 and 17 of the translation).
With respect to claim 16, the components of the composition as defined in rejected above claim 1 of Stoppelman is mixed and compounded by in single or double wall extruder or screw kneader. The properties measured for the composition of Stoppelman disclosed in Table 2, teach density of the composition to be 1.01 g/cm3 or less.
Claim(s) XXX is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2020/094624 to Stoppelman (as submitted by applicants, WIPO priority document is utilized as translation Wo document qualifies as (102(a)1 and 102(a)2 reference), as applied to claims 1, 4, 6-16 above, and further in view of Chhun (CN 103124770) and in view of evidence in Saillard (WO 2009/153534).
Discussion of Stoppelman from paragraph 1 of this office action is incorporated here by reference. Stoppelman as disclosed in paragraph 1 teaches that polyetheramides are suitable for use in his invention, however Stoppleman does not provide any details regarding the structure of the polyetheramides.
Chhun discloses polyetheramides or PEBA as they are known under the tradename of Akrema. PEBA polymers of Chhun would meet the requirements of the polyetheramides of Stoppelman because Chhun discloses molding composition which require PEBA to be amorphour or semicrystalline just like Stoppelman.
Another condition of the Stoppelman is the polymer density Stoppelman teaches on the bottom of page 3 that the density of the polyamide should be less than 1.07 g/cm3 preferably less than 1.05 g/cm3, as determined by ISO D1183-3:1999. The PEBA of Chhun discloses PEBA polymers have density of less than 1.05 g/cm3 also determined ISO D1183. Consequently the properties of the PEBA of Chhun are exactly the same properties as required by Stoppelman.
With respect to claim 2, polyamide block of PEBA of Chhun is formed using diacid or diamine which includes both cyclic and acyclic diamines including lactams [0044], wherein preparation of Chhun’s polyamides is described in WO 2009/153534 which discloses polycondensation of the monomers. Having said that, claim 2 is product by product claim, wherein patentable weight is given to the product and not to the process by which is it made.
With respect to claim 3, polyether bloc of the PEBA in Chhun utilizes monomers such as polytetramethylene glycol [0096] as well as polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, polytrimethylene glycol [0053].
Chhun discloses composition to make molded articles, which include PEBA. The resulting article has high impact strength, flexibility and light density which are also requirements of Stoppelmann. Articles are molded parts used in automotive or aviation industry which are taught by both references.
Consequently it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time instant invention was filed to utilize PEBA of Chhun in the composition of Stopperlann and therefore obtain the claimed invention. The PEBA of Chhun satisfied all the requirements for the polyamide required by Stoppelman and results in compositions having required density. As such one of the ordinary skill in the art in order to find appropriate PEBA would have to find one that meets properties required by Stoppelmann.
Pertinent Prior Art
EP 3135731 to Sutterlin Martin and Stoppelmann disclose similar composition, but were not utilized due to lack of amount of carbon fiber. Additionally not all test standards were disclosed.
Correspondence
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/KATARZYNA I KOLB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1767 January 12, 2025