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/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 6/26/2026 is acknowledged.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 6/26/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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.
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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by USPAP 2010/0120308 to Shi or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over USPAP 2010/0120308 to Shi in view of USPN 9,212,433 to Kano.
Claim 1, Shi discloses a biodegradable polyolefin fiber comprising: a core formed of polyolefin; and an oxide layer formed outside the core (see entire document including [0013], [0023]-[0028] and [0062]-[0064]). Specifically, Shi discloses that the fiber comprises polyolefin and titanium dioxide therefore an interior (core) section of the fiber is formed of polyolefin (and titanium dioxide) and an exterior (outside layer) section comprises polyolefin and titanium dioxide (is an oxide layer). In the event that it is shown that Shi alone does not sufficiently disclose the claimed fiber, Kano is cited for disclosing that it is known in the polyolefin fiber netting art to use a polyolefin fiber with a melt spinning temperature of 260 to 280ºC and a melt spinning speed of 500 to 3,000 m/min to produce a light-weight polyolefin fabric with improved color (see entire document including column 1, lines 8-33 and column 23, line 36 through column 24, line 32). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to construct the polyolefin fiber of Shi as taught by Kano, to produce a light-weight fabric with improved color. Considering that the current specification teaches an overlapping melt spinning temperature range and melt spinning speed, and discloses that said process variables are responsible for the creation of the claimed oxide layer, the applied prior art appears to teach the claimed polyolefin core/oxide layer fiber structure.
Claim 2, Shi discloses that the fiber comprises the polyolefin and an oxo-biodegradable additive at a ratio of 95 to 99.5:0.5 to 5 based on the weight percent [0013].
Claim 3, Shi discloses that the oxide layer comprises an oxo-biodegradable additive [0013].
Claim 4, Shi discloses that the oxo-biodegradable additive is at least one selected from the group consisting of iron, manganese, copper, cobalt, and cesium ([0023] and [0028]).
Claim 5, Kano discloses that the fiber is drawn at a draw ratio of 1.5 or less and has a melt index of 20 to 50 (column 5, lines 40-53 and column 24, lines 20-32).
Claim 6, Kano discloses that the fiber may have a tensile strength of 1.8 to 4.0 g/d and an elongation ratio of 300% to 500% (column 14, lines 15-49).
Claim 7, considering that the applied prior art discloses a substantially identical fiber in terms of structure and materials, the claimed property appears to be inherent. The Patent and Trademark Office can require applicants to prove that prior art products do not necessarily or inherently possess characteristics of claimed products where claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes; burden of proof is on applicants where rejection based on inherency under 35 U.S.C. § 102 or on prima facie obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103, jointly or alternatively, and Patent and Trademark Office’s inability to manufacture products or to obtain and compare prior art products evidences fairness of this rejection.
Conclusion
The following patents are cited to further show the state of the art: USPN 5,318,735 to Kozulla and USPAP 2002/0006502 to Nagaoka.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW T PIZIALI whose telephone number is (571)272-1541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marla McConnell can be reached at 571-270-7692. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW T PIZIALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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