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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/15/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-17 and 23-31 are pending. Claims 18-22 and 32 are cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 16 is 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.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "the concentrate" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposes of examination, the term is taken to mean –- the composition --.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,23,27,28,30 and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KR 20120117201 (KR ‘201).
As to Claim 1, KR ‘201 discloses a process of synthesizing a imidazoline compound using a soybean based fatty acid (soybean oil, para. 0043) and 2-hydroxyethyl ethylene diamine (para. 0044) which is equivalent in structure to the claimed amine where n is 2 and R1 is a -CH2CH2- divalent moiety i.e. (aminoethanol)amine. The reference notes that a methyl ester intermediate derived from the soybean oil is used to react with the amine compound wherein glycerol is removed during the process (para. 0044, 0037).
As to Claim 2, see discussion of Claim 1.
As to Claim 4, see discussion of Claim 1.
As to Claim 5 and 7, see discussion of Claim 1.
As to Claim 8, the Examiner notes that the recited components are construed as optional as the ranges include 0 weight percent and therefore the reference would read upon the claim.
As to Claim 10, KR ‘201 is silent with respect to presence of any amides in the composition and therefore would read upon the claim.
As to Claim 23,27,28 and 30, see discussion of Claim 1 above.
As to Claim 31, see discussion of Claim 8 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3,6,9,11-16,24-26 and 29 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 17 is allowable.
Specifically, with respect to Claim 3, none of the prior art discloses the specific structure of the amine reactant containing three nitrogen atoms as required by the claim nor is there any teaching, suggestion or motivation to arrive at the claimed limitation.
With respect to Claims 6 and 29, none of the prior art discloses a glycerol fatty acid with the component fatty acids as required by the claims nor is there any teaching, suggestion or motivation to arrive at the claimed limitation.
With respect to Claim 9, there is no disclosure to include amides as the content levels required by the claim nor is there any teaching, suggestion or motivation to arrive at the claimed limitation.
As to Claims 11-16, the prior art does not disclose the specific ratios of solvent to the imidazoline compounds and/or salts nor is there any teaching, suggestion or motivation to modify the prior art to arrive at the claimed ratios.
As to Claim 17, there is no disclosure in the prior art to incorporate a polymerizable monomer in the prior art composition nor is there any teaching, suggestion or motivation to modify the prior art.
As to Claims 24-26, there is no disclosure about further reacting the imidazolines with specific reagents to arrive at the claimed salts nor is there any teaching, suggestion or motivation to modify the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAISON P THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-8917. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 9:00 am-3:30 pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Jones can be reached at (571) 270-7733. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.P.T/Examiner, Art Unit 1762
/jt/ 6/8/2026
/ROBERT S JONES JR/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1762
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