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 Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-5, 9, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2011/0319527 to Suzuki et al. in view of U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2009/0011933 to Ito et al.
As to claims 1-5, 9, and 11, Suzuki discloses a curable composition comprising a curing agent such as diisocyanates and a modified polyrotaxane wherein a cyclic molecule such as alpha-cyclodextrin monomer, crown ethers, or benzo-crowns (0026) are modified with caprolactone to obtain a side modified polyrotaxane having OH groups at the ends of the side chains (0032). Suzuki discloses wherein the modified polyrotaxane provides a coating composition with improved abrasion resistance (0032).
Suzuki does not teach ionic functional groups within the cyclic monomer.
However, Ito discloses a material having crosslinked polyrotaxane with improved swelling properties wherein ionic groups such as sulfonic groups are added to 30 to 70% of the total hydroxy groups of the total cyclic molecules (0069).
At the time of filing it would have been obvious to add the ionic functionality taught in Ito to the polyrotaxane of Suzuki to improve solvent-absorbing property and prevent swelling (similar properties of Suzuki, 0020, 0090) due to its increased hydration ability or hydrophilicity because of the ionic group (0070).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 and 10 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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 MICHAEL L LEONARD whose telephone number is (571)270-7450. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 7:00-4:00.
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/MICHAEL L LEONARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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