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 .
Election/Restriction
Applicant’s election of Group I, claim(s) 1-8, in the reply filed on 06/23/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 9-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/23/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “the graft copolymer comprises the core in 75 wt% to 83 wt%...” However, it is unclear how the wt% is calculated and/or in what the % is in reference to, such as whether it is wt% based on the total amount of the core and the shell.
Claim 3 recites “wherein the graft monomer comprises a methyl (meth)acrylate monomer, an alkyl (meth)acrylate-based monomer of 2 to 12 carbon atoms…” However, a methyl (meth)acrylate is an alkyl (meth)acrylate-based monomer with 5 total carbon atoms. It is unclear whether the “2 to 12 carbon atoms” is referring to only the “alkyl” portion or to the entire alkyl (meth)acrylate-based monomer. It is also unclear if the alkyl (meth)acrylate-based monomer is the same or different from the methyl (meth)acrylate monomer since the methyl (meth)acrylate meets the alkyl (meth)acrylate-based monomer limitation.
Claims 2, 4-8, are dependent claims which fail to alleviate the issues above.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 07-324148 A to Okura et al. (hereinafter Okura).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, Okura teaches a core/shell graft copolymer (B) with a butadiene rubber core having a particle size of 2500 Angstroms (i.e. 250 nm), wherein 75 parts of the core is further polymerized/grafted with monomers 15 parts of methyl methacrylate and 10 parts of styrene to form a particle size of 2600 Angstroms (i.e. 260 nm), (para 75, Example 1), which correlates to 75 wt% of core, and a shell thickness of 10 nm, which meets claims 1, 2, 5, 7, 8.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5-8, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2014/0378576 A1 to Jung et al. (hereinafter Jung).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 5-8, Jung teaches a core-shell rubber polymer in Comparative Example 3, comprising a core of 85 parts of butadiene and a shell of 5 parts styrene and 10 parts of butyl acrylate, wherein the core has a diameter of 2570 Angstroms (i.e. 257 nm) and final diameter of 2700 Angstroms (i.e. 270 nm), (See Table 1, para 83-86), which correlates to 85 wt% core, and a shell thickness of 13 nm, which meets claims 1, 2, 5-8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HA S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7395. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, Flex schedule 7:30am-4:00pm.
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/HA S NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
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