DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. This application is a 371 of App. No. PCT/EP2021/085653, filed on 06/21/2023, which is entitled to and claims the benefit of priority of EP Patent App. No. 20306663.4, filed 12/22/2020. The preliminary amendment filed on 03/30/2018 is entered and acknowledged by the Examiner.
3. Applicant’s election of Species (I), claims 1-2 with traverse in the reply filed on 11/21/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground that there is no added burden on the examiner to also search the other Species (II)-(VII). This is not found persuasive because the Species (II)-(VII) have acquired a separate status in the art due to their recognized divergent subject matter as stated in the restriction requirement of 09/23/2025, and furthermore the invention requires a different field of search, for example, searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search queries and as such examination of both sets of claims would necessarily be different. Examination and prosecution of two different inventions would in fact pose an undue burden on the Examiner. The restriction requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
4. Claims 1-17 are pending. Claims 1-2, 12-17 are under examination on the merits. Claims 3-11 are withdrawn to a non-elected invention from further consideration.
Information Disclosure Statement
5. The information disclosure statements submitted on 06/21/2023, 04/11/2025, and 12/18/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the examiner has considered the information disclosure statements.
Priority
6. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted on 06/21/2023 under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
7. 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.
8. Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Yu et al. (Preparation and photophysical properties of benzimidazole-based gels, Journal of Photo chemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry 178 (2006) 62–69, hereinafter “Yu”).
Regarding claims 1-2: Yu discloses an electrochromic compound represented by Formulas 1a-1c or 2a-2b (Page 63, Scheme 1).
PNG
media_image1.png
348
728
media_image1.png
Greyscale
9. Claims 1, 12-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Okada et al. (JP 2013-245176 A, machine translation, hereinafter “Okada”).
Regarding claim 1: Okada discloses the structural formulae (1) to (40) of the electrochromic compounds (Pages 11-16/28, [0029]-[0033]).
Regarding claim 12: Okada discloses an electrochromic composition (Page 22/28, [0059], Example 2) comprising at least one compound (Page 21/28, [0055], Electrochromic Compound 10).
PNG
media_image2.png
204
688
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 13: Okada discloses the electrochromic composition, wherein said composition further comprises a host medium such as 2,2,3,3 tetrafluoro propanol (Page 22/28, [0059], Example 2).
Regarding claim 14: Okada discloses an electrochromic device such as electrochromic display element comprising the recited electrochromic compound (Page 22/28, [0059], Example 2).
Regarding claim 15: Okada discloses the electrochromic device such as electrochromic display element (Page 22/28, [0059], Example 2).
Regarding claim 16: Okada discloses an electrochromic device comprising an electrochromic composition (Page 22/28, [0059], Example 2).
Regarding claim 17: Okada discloses the electrochromic device, wherein said electrochromic device is selected from such as electrochromic display element (Page 22/28, [0059], Example 2).
Examiner Information
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bijan Ahvazi, Ph.D. whose telephone number is (571) 270-3449. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9.00 A.M. -7 P.M..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Del Sole can be reached on 571-272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Bijan Ahvazi/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
01/02/2026
bijan.ahvazi@uspto.gov
Prosecution Insights