DETAILED ACTION
Summary
This is a non-final office action for application 18/272,409 filed on 14 July 2023. The preliminary amendment filed on the same date is acknowledged.
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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 5 and 12-13 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In Claim 1, please replace “Iso 11357-2013” with “ISO 11357-2013”.
In Claim 1, please replace “-(190 °C, 2.16 Kg)” with “(190 °C, 2.16 kg)” in two places in the claim.
In Claim 1, please replace “Melt Flow Rate:” with “melt flow rate” to make lowercase and remove the colon (:) in two places in the claim.
In Claim 5, please replace “Melt Flow Rate:” with “melt flow rate” to make lowercase and remove the colon (:).
In Claim 5, please replace “-(190 °C, 2.16 Kg)” with “(190 °C, 2.16 kg)”.
In Claim 12, please replace ”178 - 2010” with “178-2010”.
In Claim 13, please replace “(190 °C, 2.16 Kg)” with “(190 °C, 2.16 kg)”.
In Claim 13, please replace “Melt Flow Rate:” with “melt flow rate” to make lowercase and remove the colon (:).
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 (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 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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WILKIE (WO-2017210403-A1).
Regarding Claims 1-2, WILKIE teaches a multilayer film where the core layer comprises a blend of a polyolefin polymer and a polybutene-1 copolymer with ethylene having over 75 wt% 1-butene (Abstract). WILKIE teaches in Example 1 a three-layer film (p. 15, lines 23-24) where the central layer contains 50-80wt% LYB Adsyl 6C30F or 7410XCP Terpolymer, 20-40wt% of LYB Koattro DP8310M polybutene-1 copolymer, and 0-10wt% of a hard resin (p. 16, lines 1-8). Note that Adsyl 6C30F and Koattro DP8310M are the same substances used for components (A) and (B) in the instant examples (cur spec: [0010], [0011], [0069]). The claim recites that the polymer composition comprises (A) and (B) which allows for other components, and that the sum of the amounts of (A) and (B) total to 100wt%, so the amounts taught by WILKIE need to be adjusted to a basis of the total of (A) and (B) in order to compare to the recited amounts. The 50-80wt% and 20-40wt% ranges taught for (A) and (B) in Example 1 corresponds to a range of 55.6-80wt% component (A) and 20-44.4wt% component (B) out of the total of (A) and (B) which overlaps the 70-95wt%/5-30wt% ranges that are recited by the claim. In Example 12, WILKIE teaches an example with a core layer which has 30-80wt% LYB Adsyl 6C30F or 7410XCP Terpolymer, 10-40 wt% LYB Koattro DP8310M polybutene-1 copolymer and 0-25wt% and 0-40wt% other resins (p. 46, lines 13-16). This calculates to a 42.9-88.9wt% (A) and 11.1-57.1wt% (B) out of the total of (A) and (B) which also overlaps the 70-95wt%/5-30wt% ranges that are recited by the claim. WILKIE teaches many specific examples with Adsyl 6C30F/ Koattro DP8310M ratios within the recited ranges for (A) and (B) in Claim 1 including Examples 2-3 (71/20 calculating to 78.0/22.0)(p. 19 table, p. 23 table), Example 4, Sample 1 (70/20 calculating to 77.8/22.2)(p. 25 table), Example 7 (66/25 calculating to 72.5/27.5)(p. 33, table) and Example 8 Sample 2 (70/30)(p. 38, table). Note that with the exception of Example 8, these are also within the narrower 72-93wt%/7-28wt% ranges recited for (A) and (B) in Claim 2.
WILKIE teaches that its Koattro DP8310M component is a copolymer of 1-butene and ethylene has a melt flow rate of 3.5 dg/min (equivalent to g/10 min) (190°C, 2.16 kg) and a melting point of 94°C (p. 17, lines 6-8) which are within the 1.0-5.5 g/10min and 83-108°C recited by the claim. WILKIE does not teach the ethylene content and the flexural modulus of its Koattro DP8310M component. Here, the specification of the current invention is used as evidence to show that the Koattro DP8310M component taught by WILKIE has an ethylene content of 3.7wt% and a flexural modulus of 120 MPa (cur spec: Table 2). These are within the 3.0-4.2wt% ethylene and 50-250 MPa ranges recited for the (B) component by the claim.
The claim recites that the propylene polymer composition (A) comprises (A1) and (A2), which allows for other components, and that the sum of the amounts of (A1) and (A2) total to 100wt%, so any amounts taught by WILKIE would need to be adjusted to a basis of the total of (A1) and (A2), as needed, in order to compare to the recited amounts. WILKIE teaches that its Adsyl 6C30F component is a Ziegler-Natta catalyzed random terpolymer of propylene, ethylene and butene with a melt flow rate (230°C, 2.16 kg) of 5.5 dg/min (equivalent to g/10 min) (p. 16, lines 27-29) which is within the 1.0-15.5 g/10 min that is recited by the claim. WILKIE teaches a melt flow rate 230°C which is different from the recited 190°C. It is presumed that the Adsyl 6C30F component with a MFR of 5.5 g/10min at (230°C, 2.16 kg) taught by WILKIE would have a MFR at (190°C, 2.16 kg) would have a MFR within recited range of 1.0-15.5 g/10min because the recited range is broad and because WILKIE teaches the same Adsyl 6C30F component used in the instant examples. WILKIE does not characterize its Adsyl 6C30F as an A1/A2 blend of propylene-1-butene copolymer and propylene-ethylene-1-butene terpolymer and does not teach the ethylene and 1-butene content of this component. Here, the specification of the current invention is used as evidence that the Adsyl 6C30F taught by WILKIE is a copolymer/terpolymer blend with an A1/A2 ratio of 25wt%/75wt%, a 1-butene content in A1 of 12.0wt%, an overall ethylene content of 0.9 wt% and a an overall 1-butene content of 14.5 wt% (cur spec: Table 1). These are all within the ranges recited for A1/A2 (15-35wt%/65-85wt%), 1-butene content in A1 (9-15wt%), overall ethylene content (0.5-2.5wt%) and overall 1-butene content (10.0-19.0 wt%).
Regarding Claim 3, WILKIE teaches the composition of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches an A component of Adsyl 6C30F (p. 16, lines 1-8) and evidence from the instant specification discloses that the Adsyl 6C30F taught by WILKIE has an A1 amounts of 25wt% (cur spec: Table 1) leaving a remaining amount of 75 wt%. Both of these are within the narrower ranges of 19-31wt% and 69-81wt% that are recited by the claim.
Regarding Claim 4 and Claim 10, WILKIE teaches the composition of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches a B component of Koattro DP8310M as a copolymer of 1-butene and ethylene (p. 16, lines 1-8, p. 17, lines 6-8) and the evidence of from the instant specification shows that the Koattro DP8310M taught by WILKIE has an ethylene content of 3.7 wt% (cur spec: Table 2) which is within the narrower range of 3.2-4.0wt% that is recited by the Claim 4 and the 3.3-3.9wt% range that is recited by Claim 10.
Regarding Claim 5, WILKIE teaches the composition of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches that its B component Koattro DP8310M has a MFR of 3.5 g/10min (p. 17, lines 6-8) which is within the narrower range of 2.1-4.8 g/10min that is recited by the claim.
Regarding Claim 6 and Claim 8, WILKIE teaches the composition of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches an A component of Adsyl 6C30F (p. 16, lines 1-8) and evidence from the instant specification discloses that the Adsyl 6C30F taught by WILKIE has C4 content in A1 of 12.0wt% which is within the 10-14wt% recited by Claim 6 and also within the 10.5-13.5wt% recited by Claim 8.
Regarding Claim 7, WILKIE teaches the composition of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches an A component of Adsyl 6C30F (p. 16, lines 1-8). WILKIE teaches that Adsyl 6C30F contains a random terpolymer of propylene, ethylene and butene which is predominately propylene as is recited by (A2) (p. 16, lines 27-29) but WILKIE does not teach the ethylene and 1-butene content of this terpolymer. The evidence in the instant specification for the Adsyl 6C30F taught by WILKIE (cur spec: Table 1) also does not disclose the monomer content of the (A2) component. But one would inherently expect that the Adsyl 6C30F component taught by WILKIE would be within the scope of the invention and would meet all the recited limitations for the A component and its substituents as it is the same compound used for the A component in the instant specification and its examples (cur spec: [0010], [0011], [0069]).
Regarding Claim 9, WILKIE teaches the composition of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches an A component of Adsyl 6C30F (p. 16, lines 1-8) and evidence from the instant specification discloses that the Adsyl 6C30F taught by WILKIE has an overall ethylene and 1-butene content of 0.9wt% and 14.5 wt% which are within the 0.7-1.9wt% and 12.0-16.0wt% ranges recited by the claim.
Regarding Claim 11, WILKIE teaches the composition of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches that its B component Koattro DP8310M has a melting point of 94 °C (p. 17, lines 7-8) which is within the range of 84-103°C recited by the claim.
Regarding Claim 12, WILKIE teaches the composition of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches a B component of Koattro DP8310M as a copolymer of 1-butene and ethylene (p. 16, lines 1-8, p. 17, lines 6-8) and the evidence of from the instant specification shows that the Koattro DP8310M taught by WILKIE has a flexural modulus of 120 MPa (cur spec: Table 2) which is within the narrower range of 80-210 MPa recited by the claim.
Regarding Claim 13, WILKIE teaches the invention of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches an A component of Adsyl 6C30F (p. 16, lines 1-8) which has a MFR of 5.5 g/10min (230°C, 2.16 kg) (p. 16, lines 27-29). WILKIE teaches a melt flow rate 230°C which is different from the recited 190°C. It is presumed that the Adsyl 6C30F component with a MFR of 5.5 g/10min at (230°C, 2.16 kg) taught by WILKIE would have a MFR at (190°C, 2.16 kg) would have a MFR within recited range of 3.1-12.2 g/10min because the recited range is broad and because WILKIE teaches the same Adsyl 6C30F component used in the instant examples.
Regarding Claims 14-15, WILKIE teaches the invention of Claim 1 where WILKIE teaches its composition as the core layer in a multi-layer film (Abstract, Examples, such as Example 1, p. 15, line 22 to p. 16, line 12).
Conclusion
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/D.R.F./Examiner, Art Unit 1764
/KREGG T BROOKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764