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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mantymaki (US 4,818,289).
Claims 1-3 and 5: Mantymaki teaches a non-crystalline composition used to form fibers (Abst.) comprising: a modified copper slag raw material (2:9-3:2) wherein the slag has been modified to achieve an iron oxide content of 22-35% by weight (2:42-3:2) by adding 15-35% silica and 8-15% alumina to the slag which already includes 25-40% silica, 0-15% alumina and 0-10% calcium oxide (2:42-3:2). In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. MPEP § 2144.05(I). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have selected a composition with 26-35% by weight iron oxide and 50-75% silica, alumina and calcium oxide with the predictable expectation of success.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mantymaki in light of Pavlov et al. (US 5,763,341).
Claim 4: Mantymaki fails to teach including ash or basalt in the slag mixture. Pavlov teaches a process of forming fibers from slag and explains that coal ash is added to the slag in order to control the carbon content in the slag (Abst.). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have added coal ash to the composition of Mantymaki depending on the desired carbon content in the fibers.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mantymaki in light of Tanaka et al. (US 2013/0324643).
Claim 6: Mantymaki teaches forming mineral fibers from the mixture, but fails to teach that the fibers are used to reinforce concrete. Tanaka teaches that mineral fibers can be used to reinforce concrete (Abst.). Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results is prima facie obvious. MPEP § 2143. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have utilized the fibers of Mantymaki to have reinforced concrete with the predictable expectation of success depending on the desired end use of the fibers.
Conclusion
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/ROBERT A VETERE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1712