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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed 1/29/2026 has been considered but does not place the application in condition for allowance. In view of applicant’s arguments, the rejection under 35 USC 112 is withdrawn. Applicant’s amendment has distinguished over Anderson which does not specifically teach the solid core. A new rejection in response to the amendment is presented below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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) 16-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 106591013 in view of WO 2015/028567.
Regarding claim 16, CN ‘013 teaches a solid detergent (see for example 0105) which comprises a biological surfactant (0042-0046) and can contain enzymes (0048). CN ‘103 differs from the present invention in not specifying the use of an enzyme particle with a solid core and a coating which are essentially free of titanium dioxide. WO ‘567 teaches a detergent composition which comprises solid enzyme particles which comprises a solid core and a coating. WO ‘567 teaches that the particles are specifically formulated to avoid the use of titanium dioxide. Page 10, lines 8-10 indicates that titanium dioxide can be replaced by a fluorescent whitening agent. WO ‘567 teaches that coating the enzyme improves storage stability and reduces dust formation during handling (page 5, lines 14-15). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the coated particles of WO ‘567 as the enzyme component of CN ‘013, since such would give the advantage of improved storage stability and reduced dust formation. Furthermore, it would be obvious that using a coating would improve the ability to release the enzyme in a controlled manner during use as a detergent.
Regarding claims 17 -20, CN ‘013 teaches the use sophorolipids, rhamnolipids and mannosylerythritol lipids (0042-0046). These comprise surfactants derived from a biological component, and comprise non-ionic surfactants.
Regarding claims 21-23, CN ‘013 teaches that the enzyme may be present at a level of 1-20%, thus overlapping and rendering obvious the claimed ranges (see MPEP 2144.05).
Regarding claim 24, neither CN ‘013 or WO ‘567 indicate that alkylbenzene sulfonates must be present in the detergent.
Regarding claim 25-26, WO ,567 teaches that builders and co-builders such as EDTA may be added to the detergent composition (page 16, line 31 – page 17, line 1). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize a co-builder such as EDTA to remove unwanted ions, such as calcium or magnesium ions. With regard to claim 26, WO ‘567 teaches that the co-builder may be present at a level up to 50%.
Regarding claim 27, although the amount of enzyme particles used by WO ‘567 is not specifically disclosed, the variation of the amount of particles in the detergent to achieve successful cleaning would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 28, WO ‘567 teaches that the enzyme particles may comprise 0.5 – 50% of enzyme protein, thus overlapping and rendering obvious the claimed range (Page 7, lines 11-15).
Regarding claim 29, CN ‘013 teaches enzymes within those claimed (0048).
Regarding claim 30, CN ‘013 in paragraph 0119 teaches using a mixture including protease and other enzymes (see also 0048-0050).
Regarding claim 31, CN ‘013 teaches that the core comprises the enzyme (page 3, line 9).
Regarding claim 32, CN ‘103 teaches that the coating can be a salt or polymer coating (page 5, lines 15-19).
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHILIP C TUCKER whose telephone number is (571)272-1095. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4:30.
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/PHILIP C TUCKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1745