Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/280,694

CURABLE COMPOSITION, CURED OBJECT, FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITE MATERIAL, AND MOLDED FIBER-REINFORCED RESIN ARTICLE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 07, 2023
Examiner
WASHVILLE, JEFFREY D
Art Unit
1766
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
DIC CORPORATION
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 10m
To Grant
75%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allow Rate
988 granted / 1236 resolved
+14.9% vs TC avg
Minimal -5% lift
Without
With
+-4.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
36 currently pending
Career history
1272
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
50.6%
+10.6% vs TC avg
§102
32.8%
-7.2% vs TC avg
§112
12.3%
-27.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1236 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Information Disclosure Statement 2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/7/2023 was filed timely. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 3. 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. 4. 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. 5. Claims 1-3, 5-13 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (WO 2019/065663 A1) to Taniguchi (hereinafter Taniguchi) in view of the teachings of (JP 2006143759 A) to Miyata et al. (hereinafter Miyata) . Taniguchi is directed toward a curable epoxy resin. Taniguchi discloses in the Abstract that a n epoxy resin (A) , which reads on Applicants epoxy comprises a bisphenol F type epoxy resin. Taniguchi further discloses in the Abstract that the composition includes core/shell particles, which reads on Applicants particles (C). Taniguchi further discloses in the Abstract that the composition includes an imidazole, which reads on Applicants compound (D). Taniguchi discloses that the composition has a viscosity at 25C of 3 to 45 Pas (3000 to 45,000 mPas ) that reads on Applicants range of 1,000 to 100,000 mPas . Taniguchi discloses that the composition includes 2 parts per 100 of core/shell particles, which reads on Applicants range of 1-10 per 100 parts. Taniguchi further discloses that the particles have a diameter of 1 to 500 nm, which reads on Applicants range of 50 to 1,000 nm. Taniguchi further discloses that the composition includes 0.01 to 7 parts per 100 of imidazole, which reads on Applicants range of 0.2 to 4 parts. Taniguchi further discloses that the composition includes methylimidazole. Taniguchi further discloses in the Abstract that the composition includes a fiber reinforcement. Taniguchi discloses in the Abstract that a dicyandiamide may be used as a curing agent. Taniguchi discloses each and every element of the composition , but is silent regarding an aliphatic or acyclic amine compound. Miyata is directed toward a fiber reinforced epoxy composition. Taniguchi and Miyata are both directed toward a fiber reinforced epoxy composition and therefore are analogous art . Miyata teaches in the Abstract that a curable epoxy is cured with an aliphatic amine compound and/or an alicyclic amine compound, dicyandiamide and an imidazole compound. Miyata teaches in the TECH-SOLUTION section that an aliphatic amine compound and/or an alicyclic amine compound is the functional equivalent of dicyandiamide as a curing agent. Therefore one skilled in the art would find it obvious to either substitute an aliphatic or acyclic for a dicyandiamide OR add the amine curative in combination to the curatives of Taniguchi. It would be obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of filing based on the disclosure of Taniguchi in view of the teachings of Miyata to either substitute an aliphatic amine or add to the curative of dicyandiamide and therefore it would form a prime facie case of obviousness for claims 1-3, 5-13 and 15-20 . 6 . Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (WO 2019/065663 A1) to Taniguchi (hereinafter Taniguchi) in view of the teachings of (JP 2006143759 A) to Miyata et al. (hereinafter Miyata) in further view of the teachings of (US 2002/0016411 A1) to Ando et al. (hereinafter Ando) . Taniguchi is directed toward a curable epoxy resin. Taniguchi discloses in the Abstract that an epoxy resin (A), which reads on Applicants epoxy comprises a bisphenol F type epoxy resin. Taniguchi further discloses in the Abstract that the composition includes core/shell particles, which reads on Applicants particles (C). Taniguchi further discloses in the Abstract that the composition includes an imidazole, which reads on Applicants compound (D). Taniguchi discloses that the composition has a viscosity at 25C of 3 to 45 Pas (3000 to 45,000 mPas ) that reads on Applicants range of 1,000 to 100,000 mPas . Taniguchi discloses that the composition includes 2 parts per 100 of core/shell particles, which reads on Applicants range of 1-10 per 100 parts. Taniguchi further discloses that the particles have a diameter of 1 to 500 nm, which reads on Applicants range of 50 to 1,000 nm. Taniguchi further discloses that the composition includes 0.01 to 7 parts per 100 of imidazole, which reads on Applicants range of 0.2 to 4 parts. Taniguchi further discloses that the composition includes methylimidazole. Taniguchi further discloses in the Abstract that the composition includes a fiber reinforcement. Taniguchi discloses in the Abstract that a dicyandiamide may be used as a curing agent. Taniguchi discloses each and every element of the composition, but is silent regarding an aliphatic or acyclic amine compound. Miyata is directed toward a fiber reinforced epoxy composition. Taniguchi and Miyata are both directed toward a fiber reinforced epoxy composition and therefore are analogous art. Miyata teaches in the Abstract that a curable epoxy is cured with an aliphatic amine compound and/or an alicyclic amine compound, dicyandiamide and an imidazole compound. Miyata teaches in the TECH-SOLUTION section that an aliphatic amine compound and/or an alicyclic amine compound is the functional equivalent of dicyandiamide as a curing agent. Therefore one skilled in the art would find it obvious to either substitute an aliphatic or acyclic for a dicyandiamide OR add the amine curative in combination to the curatives of Taniguchi. Ando is directed toward a fiber reinforced epoxy composition. Taniguchi and Ando are both directed toward a fiber reinforced epoxy composition and therefore are analogous art. Ando teaches at paragraph [0015] that the amine species of isophoronediamine is used as the amine curative for a fiber reinforced epoxy. One skilled in the art would find it obvious to use the common commercially available amine curative species for epoxy. It would be obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of filing based on the disclosure of Taniguchi in view of the teachings of Miyata and Ando to either substitute an aliphatic amine or add to the curative of dicyandiamide and further to use the curative amine species taught by Ando therefore it would form a prime facie case of obviousness for claims 1-20. Conclusion 7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT JEFFREY D WASHVILLE whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-3262 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT M-F 9-5 . 8. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. 9. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Randy Gulakowski can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-272-1302 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 10. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JEFFREY D WASHVILLE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 07, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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Patent 12600896
LIGNIN-BASED COMPOSITIONS AND RELATED HYDROCARBON RECOVERY METHODS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
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Patent 12595365
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2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
75%
With Interview (-4.9%)
2y 10m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1236 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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