DETAILED ACTION
Any rejections and/or objections made in the previous Office action and not repeated below are hereby withdrawn.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office Action.
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on Aug. 6, 2026 has been entered.
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 Rejections – 35 U.S.C. § 102
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 109651542 A (herein “Hou”). The attached computer-generated English translation of Hou is referred to herein.
As to claims 1-2, 4-5, and 7: Hou describes polyvinyl alcohol dispersants and their use for suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride (see ¶ [0013] of the translation).
Hou describes an example (see Example 1 in ¶ [0037]) which is a vinyl alcohol polymer that is made in the presence of the n-pentanal in an amount of 3 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts of vinyl acetate. The vinyl alcohol polymer of Hou’s Example 1 has a degree of saponification of 71.96 mol% (see the table in ¶ [0042] of the original).
The compound n-pentanal corresponds to the present chemical formula (1) in which R is a 4-carbon alkyl group. It is additionally noted that the present specification discloses that n-pentanal (a.k.a. 1-pentanal) is an example of an aldehyde that is used as a modification agent to produce the presently recited chemical formula (1) and that the usage amount of aldehyde is 0.5 to 20 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the vinyl ester monomer (Spec. p. 11, ¶¶ [0037]-[0038]).
Hou does not disclose the percentage of structural units modified by the n-pentanal, corresponding to the presently recited quantity X.
Because Hou discloses one of the aldehyde chain transfer agents (n-pentanal) that is presently disclosed to result in chemical formula (1), and because the amount of the chain transfer agent used in the cited process of making the polyvinyl alcohol falls within the scope of the amounts which are presently disclosed, there is a reasonable basis to conclude that Hou’s process results in a polyvinyl alcohol which has a percentage of structural units modified by the n-pentanal that falls within the scope of the presently recited inequalities (2) and (3).
Where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established. MPEP 2112.01(I).
As to claims 3, 6, and 8-9: The vinyl alcohol polymer of Hou’s Example 1 has a polymerization degree of 738 (see the table in ¶ [0042] of the original). There is presently no evidence of record that the presently recited viscosity-average degrees of polymerization would fall outside of the scope of Hou’s polymerization degree.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed Aug. 6, 2026 (herein “Remarks”) have been fully considered and they are persuasive in part.
The rejections under 35 U.S.C. §§ 112(b), 102(a)(1), and 102(a)(2) that were set forth in the preceding Office action mailed on May 11, 2026 have been withdrawn in light of the amendments of independent claim 1.
In light of the amendments of independent claim 1, a new ground of rejection has been set forth above over a reference to Hou.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD A. HUHN whose telephone number is (571)270-7345. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arrie (Lanee) Reuther can be reached at (571) 270-7026. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RICHARD A. HUHN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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