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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 Claims 9-15 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. In claim 9, the process for reacting does not include an active process step. In claim 9, given that “silicone” (line 1) and “silicon” (line 2) are both recited, it is unclear whether the definition of “silicone” (line 3) refers to both of the antecedently-recited silicone and silicon. In claim 9, line 2, it is unclear whether the components making up the “solids mixture containing silicon” are all solid silicon materials. In claim 9, line 5, it is unclear what is meant by “organic substituents”, which have not been defined. In claim 11, it is unclear what other materials, besides solid silicone, is included in the “solids mixture containing silicon”. In claim 14, there is no express antecedent basis for “the pressure”. 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 9 and 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a1) as being anticipated by JP 2003096198 A (Santo) abstract and machine translation per IDS filed 02/11/2025. As to claim 9, Santo discloses a process for reacting a silicone resin with water in a supercritical state ( meets Applicants’ process of reacting a silicone with supercritical water ) to produce silicone resin fine particles ( meets Applicants’ solid mixture containing silicon ) (e.g., abstract, examples, claims). As to claim 12, given that the same process conditions are disclosed by Santo, it would be expected that methane would be similarly-produced. As to claims 13 and 14, in Example 1 Santo discloses a temperature of 400°C and a pressure of 35 MPA (350 bar). As to claim 15, Santo discloses the silicon resin fine particles can be reused/recycled [0001]/[0004]. Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a1) as being anticipated by JP 2003096198 A (Santo) described hereinabove as evidenced by US 2014/0248557 (Yaguchi). As to claim 10, Santo expressly exemplifies silicone resin RSR213, a methylsilicone resin as evidenced by Yaguchi per [0141], which does not contain halogens. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2003096198 A (Santo) described hereinabove . For the embodiment wherein a silicon resin modified with an alkyd, polyester, epoxy or urethane is used as Santo’s starting material (claim 2), it would have been within the purview of one having ordinary skill in the art to produce a mixture comprising silicon resin fine particles in amounts as presently claimed for their expected additive effect. Differences in concentrations do not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating criticality for the claimed ranges. “Where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation”, In re Aller , 105 USPQ 233. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT Ana L Woodward whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-1082 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT M-F 8am-5pm . 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. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Heidi Kelley can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-270-1831 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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. /ANA L. WOODWARD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1765