DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-7) in the reply filed on April 14, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 8-10 and 13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. The requirement is deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Honma et al (EP 3 031 867).
Regarding claims 1-3, Honma teaches a carbon black which has an oil absorption amount from 100 to 600 cm3/100 g ([0036]) and an iron content of 0.1 to 500 ppm by mass ([0041]) which is equivalent to 100 to 500,000 ppb ([0041]) which is measured by induced coupled plasma mass spectroscopy ([0095]).
Honma fails to specifically exemplify the exact carbon black. However, Honma discloses each of the properties of the carbon black, and teaches that they are all suitable for use in a single carbon black. It is within the ordinary level of skill in the art to make any of the carbon blacks suggested by a reference. Therefore, a person of ordinary skill would have been motivated to prepare any of the carbon black suggested by Honma, including that of the claimed invention. In view of this, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the present invention to use the teachings of Honma to arrive at the presently claimed invention. It would have been nothing more than using known properties in a typical combination to arrive at predicable results. KSR v. Teleflex, 550 U.S. 418, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Regarding claim 4-6, Honma teaches that the BET surface area ranges from 50 to 1600 m2/g ([0038]). Honma teaches a carbon black which has an oil absorption amount from 100 to 600 cm3/100 g ([0036]). Given these amounts, the ratio of S/A overlaps the claimed ranges. An example would be BET is 200 and the absorption is also 200, therefore, the ratio of S/A is 1.
Regarding claim 7, Honma teaches that the carbon black is an acetylene black ([0043]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DORIS L LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-3872. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am - 5 pm.
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/DORIS L LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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