DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In view of the non-patent literature document cited in the IDS dated 2/6/26, and upon further consideration of the claims indicated allowable in the Notice of Allowance dated 10/23/25, applicant is advised that the Notice of Allowance mailed on 10/23/25 is vacated. Examiner regrets the delay in prosecution as a result of reopening prosecution.
If the issue fee has already been paid, applicant may request a refund or request that the fee be credited to a deposit account. However, applicant may wait until the application is either found allowable or held abandoned. If allowed, upon receipt of a new Notice of Allowance, applicant may request that the previously submitted issue fee be applied. If abandoned, applicant may request refund or credit to a specified Deposit Account.
The claims considered in this office action correspond to the most recent version of the claims to be entered in the record i.e., claims 1-7, 10-19 as presented in the Examiner’s amendment section of the Notice of Allowance dated 10/23/25, and the remaining claims corresponding to those in the preliminary amendment dated 4/13/23.
Claim Objection
Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informality:
In line 1, the recitation “Claim 1” should be replaced with “Claim 2” to make it consistent with the version in Applicant’s Proposed Amendments (dt. 10/13/25) for incorporating as Examiner’s amendment.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 14 and 15 are 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 14 is indefinite because the full scope of the claimed invention lacks clarity. Specifically, polymers (PP-bif) and (PP-monof) are not defined in the claim or in claim 1 on which the claim depends. Additionally, it is unclear as to which polymers are provided in step (a). Step (a) recites the following:
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While step (a) (Pp); (Cp); or (DIL), the subsequent steps (c) and (d) imply coating with (Cp) or (DIL), and it is unclear if (Pp) is a required element in the claimed method.
For the purpose of examination, (PP-bif) and (PP-monof) are interpreted as defined in claim 14 of the preliminary amendment dt. 4/13/23. Additionally, in view of the instant disclosure (PGPUB-[0169]-[0173]), the method of claim 14 is interpreted to include as step (a), providing (Pp), (Cp) or (DIL) (incorporating appropriate definitions), and steps (b) and (c) as including components consistent with step (a). Claim 15 is subsumed by rejected claim 14 and is therefore, included in this rejection.
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)(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.
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 1-3, 5, 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schorzman et al. (US 20080003261 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 5, 16 and 17, Schorzman teaches fluorinated polyethers functionalized to contain ionic and polymerizable vinylic end groups, and a monomer of formula (I) shown below [0009], with V, L, Rf, R, X, m, n and z being defined in paragraphs [0010]-[0011], wherein z may be V:
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Additionally, disclosed schematic for forming the fluorinated poly(ether)-containing monomers provides for from monomers of following formula [0038]Example 2):
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As an initial matter, it is noted that based on the structure of the starting diol in the schematic in [0038], it appears that an additional carbonyl group has been incorrectly indicated in the formed monomer, and in the monomer as shown in Example 2.
Disclosed monomer in the schematic reads on (PP) and (PP-bif) and includes a fluorinated poly(ether) chain (reads on chain (Rpf)) having two chain ends (read on chains (Re)) wherein both ends comprise a quaternary ammonium salt group (reads on group (N+)) and a methacrylate group (reads on a cross-linkable group/group (U)/(U-I)).
In the monomer shown in the schematic, (Rpf) as claimed may correspond to the following fragment:
A:
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,
Regarding claims 3 and 18, the above segment A reads on the claimed (Rpf), i.e. in segment A, the two -CH2- groups read on D and D* (i.e., C1 alkylene), -CF2- adjacent to the two -CH2- groups read on (CFX#) and (CFX*) with X# and X* being F, and -(CF2-CF2-O)x-(CF2-O-)y reads on Rf, comprising repeating units Ro, wherein Ro comprises/consists of repeating units -CF2-CF2-O- and -CF2-O- (read on (i) and (ii)).
Therefore, presently cited claims are anticipated by Schorzman.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 10-13, are allowed.
Claims 4, 6, 19 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.
Claim 14 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claim 15 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to Satya Sastri at (571) 272 1112. The examiner can be reached Monday-Friday, 9AM-5.30PM (EST). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Mr. Robert Jones can be reached at (571)-270-7733. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273 8300.
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/Satya B Sastri/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762
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