DETAILED ACTION
1 This action is responsive to the amendment filed on December 02, 2025.
2 The cancellation of claims 2, 4 and 6 is acknowledged. Pending claims are 1, 3, 5, 7-17 and the newly added claims 18-20.
3 The rejections of the claims under 103 are withdrawn because of the applicant’s amendment.
NEW GROUND OF REJECTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4 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.
5 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, 3, 5 and 7-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brun et al. (US 2010/0083446 A1) in view of Lechner et al. (WO 2020035362 A1). English translation of the Patent (WO 2020035362 A1) is used in this Office action.
Brun et al. (US’ 446 A1) teaches a process for dyeing hair comprising applying to the hair a pretreatment composition comprising in a cosmetically acceptable medium at least one organosilicon compound, and applying to the hair a cosmetic composition comprising at least one pigment as claimed in claims 1 and 11 (see claim 15), wherein the organosilicon compounds comprising a mixture of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and Bis[3-triethoxysilylpropyl]amine that read on the claimed formula (S-I) as claimed in claim 3 (see page 3, paragraph, 0063 and paragraph, 0079 ) and wherein the pigments include mica coated with an iron oxide as claimed in claim 8 (see page 12, paragraph, 0289) and organic pigments include phthalocyanine and quinacridone as claimed in claim 9 (see page 12, paragraph, 0280) and wherein the organosilicon compounds are present in the pretreatment composition in the amounts of 0.5% to 20% by wt., as claimed in claim 7 (see page 4, paragraph, 0103). Brun et al. (US’ 446 A1) also teaches a process for dyeing hair comprising applying to the hair a cosmetic composition comprising at least one organosilicon compound and at least one pigment and drying the hair at a temperature greater than 45.degree. C. and less than 220 degrees. C, by applying a flow of air as claimed in claims 1,10 and 12-13 (see page 19, paragraphs, 0477 and 0479 and claim 13), and wherein the process also include the steps of optionally rinsing the hair and optionally drying the hair before applying the pigment composition and wherein the ready-to-use composition as described above, may be used on a dry hair as claimed in claims 14-17 (see page 19, paragraphs, 0464 and 0469) and wherein the cosmetic composition can be followed by a rinsing step as claimed in claims 19 and 20 (see page 19, paragraphs, 0469 and 0474). Brun et al. (US’ 446 A1) also teaches the step of drying the keratin fibers after applying to the keratin fibers a cosmetic composition comprising at least one organosilicon compound and at least one pigment and wherein the drying occurs at a temperature greater than 40.degree. C as claimed in claim 1 (see claim 13).
The instant claims differ from the teachings of Brun et al. (US’ 446 A1) by applying to keratin material a composition comprising organic silicon compound of the claimed formula (S-IV) as claimed in claims 1, 5 and 18.
Lechner et al. (WO’ 362 A1) in analogous art of keratinous material dyeing formulation, teaches a method for dyeing keratin material comprising applying the keratin material a dyeing composition comprising organic silicon compound having a formula (I) and/or (IV) which are similar to the claimed formulae (S-I) and (S-IV) and wherein the reference’s formulae (I) and (IV) are selected from (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane, (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane, methyltrimethoxysilane, methytriethoxysilane and ethyltriethoxysilane as claimed in claims 1, 3, 5 and 18 (see English translation of the Patent WO’ 362 A1, claims 1-8).
Therefore, in view of the teaching of the secondary reference of Lechner et al. (WO’ 362 A1, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to be motivated to modify the composition of Brun et al. (US’ 446 A1) by incorporating the silane (organic silicon compound) having the formula (IV) as taught by Lechner et al. (WO’ 362 A1) to arrive at the claimed invention. Such a modification would have been obvious because Lechner et al. (WO’ 362 A1) clearly refers to silane that to be used in the keratinous material dyeing composition as described above, and, thus, the person of the ordinary skill in the art would expect such a process to have similar property to those claimed in the absent of unexpected results.
Response to Applicant’s Arguments
6 Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejections of the claims over Brun et al. (US 2010/0083446 A1) in view of Lorant et al. (US 2015/0080338 A1) have been considered but are moot because the rejection has been withdrawn. However, a new ground of rejection presented in this Office action.
7 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 EISA B ELHILO whose telephone number is (571)272-1315. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM.
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/EISA B ELHILO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761