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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election without traverse of Group II, Claims 12-17 and 19-20 in the reply filed on 12/18/2025 is acknowledged. Accordingly, claims 1, 3-11 and 21-22 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Claims 1-2 and 4-9 are currently under examination on the merits.
Claim Objections
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: “a.” should be deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: “1,500mm” should read “1,500 mm”. It is also noted that there is not such a particle having size being 1.5 meter. Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 12 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al (CN 111978668, ‘668 hereafter, citation please see original document in Chinese).
Regarding claims 12 and 14-15, ‘668 discloses a process of preparing a composite comprising a step of subjecting particulate heterogenous intake material to at least one extrusion process within an extruder, at a temperature maintained within a range of 155°C and 185°C ([0028], [0063]), to thereby obtain the composite material ([0022]-0024]); wherein the particulate heterogenous intake material comprises at least 40 wt% of non-plastic organic matter containing cellulose with respect to total weight of the particulate heterogenous intake material (Example 2, waste paper comprising cellulose around 60 wt%); and around 35 wt% plastic matter with respect to total weight of the composite material, which comprises a plurality of synthetic thermoplastic polymers, including more than two polyolefins including polypropylene and polyethylene ([0055]) and more than two non-polyolefins such as PVC and copolymer of polar monomer ([0055], [0058]). and [0058]); and 5 wt% inorganic matter with respect to total weight of the composite material (Example 2). The amount of aryl-containing synthetic polymers in the heterogenous intake material is less than 10% with respect to total weight of the composite material (Small amount polystyrene around 0.8 wt% [0058], and the amount of polyethylene terephthalate is 0 wt%).
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 13, 16-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al (CN 111978668, ‘668 hereafter, citation please see original document in Chinese) in view of Whitaker et al (US 2020/0338789, of record, ‘789 hereafter).
Regarding claims 13 and 16-17, ‘668 teaches all the imitations of claim 12, but ‘668 does not expressly set forth the process contains a separation step to remove halogenated polymer or/and aryl synthetic polymers from particle heterogenous intake material based on near Infra-Red absorbance, to obtain a sorted heterogenous intake material. However, in the same field of endeavor, ‘789 discloses a process of making recyclable material which comprises a step of sorting and rejecting halogenated polymer PVC based on near Infra-Red in order to remove PVC to make PVC free recycled material ([0024]). In light of these teachings, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to use a sorting step as taught by ‘789, in order to remove PVC to reach the content of PVC as low as needed to satisfying present claim 13. ‘789 also discloses that the process may comprise two or more particulating and sieving steps to meet a specific application ([0020]-[0032]).
Regarding claims 19 and 20, modified ‘668 teaches all the limitations of claim 12, ‘668 discloses that the composite material from extruder can be further processed into needed shape ([0025]), and ‘789 teaches a product formed from a material particle depends on particle size and particles with smaller size provide advantage of making thinner and stiffer product ([0032]), therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to apply a size reduction step to render the composite having desired small size for making thinner and stiffer product.
Conclusion
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/RUIYUN ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782