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 .
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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1 – 10, in the reply filed on 6/16/26 is acknowledged.
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 – 5, 7 – 8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20140228474 A1 to Qian et al. hereinafter “Qian”.
Qian is directed to dental resin modified glass ionomer compositions with advanced tooth adhesion [0001].
Regarding claims 1 – 3, 5 and 7 - 8, Qian teaches a composition for resin modified glass ionomer dental resins comprising (a) an acidic polymer having a plurality of acidic functional groups (carboxylic acid) having a molecular weight of 3000 to about 100,000 [0017, 0023], (b) an acidic polymerizable monomer such 4-(meth)acryloxyalkyltrimellitic acid [0018], (c) a non-acidic polymerizable monomer, (d) a fluoroaluminosilicate glass filler, (e) water, (f) a polymerization initiator [0022]. Component (a) can comprise a homopolymer of acrylic acid in and amount of 0.5 – 50 wt. % [0024, 0028]. Component (b) can comprise acidic monomers such as 4-(meth)acryloxypropyltrimellitic acid [0029]. Component (c) can comprise monomers such as BisGMA, n-butyl methacrylate, isobutyl methacrylate, diethylene glycol dimethacrylate, triethylene glycol dimethacrylate, urethane dimethacrylate and TMPTA at a use level of 2 – 30 wt. % [0030]. Component (d) can comprise fluoroaluminosilicate glass filler (bioactive glass) which can further contain calcium and zinc at a use level of 5 – 80 wt.% [0031]. Component (e) is water used at 1 – 30 wt. % [0032]. Component (f) is an initiator used at 0.5 – 5 wt. % [0033]. Component (f) is a finely divided filler such as silica, silicate glass, polymeric filler and fumed silica used at 5 – 100 wt. % [0039 – 0041].
The compositions of Qian are silent as to the use of low concentrations of water (claims 1, 3) and a higher molecular weight polyacrylic acid (claim 2).
With regard to Applicant’s limitations regarding the concentration of water and the molecular weight (MW) of the polyacrylic acid (PAA), it is the position of the Examiner that one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, would through routine and normal experimentation determine the optimization of these limitations to provide the best effective variable depending on the results desired. Because, Qian already teaches using a molecular weight of 100,000 for PAA and a water level of 1 – 30 Wt. %, the Examiner asserts that the MW of the PAA and amount of water used are art recognized result-effective variables. Thus it would be obvious in the optimization process to adjust the concentrations of water and the WM of the PAA to achieve the properties desired. In addition, merely modifying the process conditions such as temperature and concentration is not a patentable modification absent a showing of criticality, since the applicant does not show any unusual and/or unexpected results for the limitation stated (In re Aller, 220 Fo2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955). Note that the prior art provides the same effect desired by the Applicant, the formation of a resin modified glass ionomer dental cement.
As to claim 10, the amount of ion releasing material is 5 – 80 wt. % [0031], dental resin 2 – 30 wt. % [0030], and inert fillers 0.5 – 70 wt.% [0041].
Regarding claim 4, Qian is silent as to the use of 10-methacryloxyloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate as the acid monomer. However, Qian does teach that the acid monomers can be selected from those having a phosphate group [0044]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to use an acid monomer having a phosphate group as it is directly taught by Qian.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER A. SALAMON whose telephone number is 571-270-3018. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9AM - 6PM.
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PAS 6/27/26
/PETER A SALAMON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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