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 .
Priority
The instant application is a 35 USC 371 National Stage filing of international application No. PCT/EP2022/051285, filed January 20, 2022, which claims priority under 35 USC 119(a)-(d) from French Application FR21.00547, filed January 20, 2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on September 22, 2023 was in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the IDS documents were considered and signed copies of the 1449 forms are attached.
Restrictions/Elections
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-10, drawn to a polymerizable photoinitiator of formula (I) in the reply filed May 6, 2026 is acknowledged. Further, Applicant’s election of the compound of Example 1 in the same reply is also acknowledged. Applicants contend that the elected species reads on claims 1-5, 7-8 and 10 within the elected Group I.
In accordance with the MPEP, if upon examination of the elected species, no prior art is found that would anticipate or render obvious the instant invention based on the elected species and the claims drawn to the elected species are allowable, the search of the Markush-type claim will be extended (see MPEP 803.02). If prior art is then found that anticipates or renders obvious the non-elected species, the Markush-type claim will be rejected. It should be noted that the prior art search will not be extended unnecessarily to cover all non-elected species. Should Applicant overcome the rejection by amending the claim, the amended claim will be reexamined. Id. The prior art search will be extended to the extent necessary to determine patentability of the Markush-type claim. Id. In the event prior art is found during reexamination that renders obvious or anticipates the amended Markush-type claim, the claim will be rejected and the action made final. Id.
As indicated above, the Examiner searched the claimed invention based on the elected species above, wherein: the elected species was found to be allowable over the prior art. Thus, the scope of the search and examination was expanded beyond the elected species of camphor to include the compound described in the rejection under 35 USC 102 herein.
Status of Claims
Currently, claims 1-20 are pending in the instant application. Claims 6, 9 and 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention and/or species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claims 1-5, 7-8 and 10 read on an elected invention and species and are under consideration herein to the extent they read on the elected species and expanded scope as described above.
Claim Objections
Claims 5 and 8 are objected to for depending on a rejected base claim but appear allowable if rewritten in independent form.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 102
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 1-4, 7 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20090093562 (“the ‘562 publication”).
The ‘562 publication teaches curable resin compositions comprising radical polymerization initiator compounds, for example preferably
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(paragraph [0060]. As a particular embodiment, the prior art teaches Radical Polymerization Initiator D
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(paragraph [0239]). Notably, in Formula (I), R1 and R2 are H; R3 is methyl; a and b are each 1; L1 is methylene and L2 is NH-(CH2)2-.
Since the prior art teaches all required features of the instantly claimed invention, the claims are anticipated.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alicia L. Otton whose telephone number is (571)270-7683. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday, 8:00-6:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mr. Fereydoun Sajjadi can be reached on 571-272-3311. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALICIA L OTTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1699
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