CTNF 18/291,767 CTNF 97381 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15 AIA Claim s 1-4, 6, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Ide (US 3944630) . Regarding claims 1-4, 6, and 11, Ide teaches a method of making a graft copolymer by agglomerating synthetic rubber latex and acrylic copolymer, stabilizing the agglomerated latex with at least one nonionic emulsifier, and grafting monomers onto the latex (Abstract). The nonionic emulsifier may be present in amounts ranging from 0.1-5 wt% (col. 5, lines 1-4). Ide teaches a variety of nonionic emulsifiers based on polyoxyethylene (col. 5, lines 8-17). A polyoxyethylene polymer backbone has a repeating structure identical to that of a poly(ethylene glycol). The synthetic rubber may be polybutadiene latex or a latex of a styrene-butadiene copolymer (col. 15, claims 2-3). The acrylic copolymer may be of methacrylic acid and methyl acrylate (col. 3, lines 31 and 40). Before agglomeration, the first rubber latex may have a particle size of 0.07 micron (70 nm), and the agglomerated rubber latex may have a particle size of 0.32 micron (320 nm) (col. 7-8, Ex. 1). The grafting monomer may be 40-70 wt% styrene and 5-40 wt% acrylonitrile (claim 9) . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 7-10 and 12 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. 13-03-01 AIA The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art is Ide in view of Cho and Hajji, as discussed above in regard to claim 1. The combined prior art teaches a similar composition and method, but fails to teach combination of two separate rubber emulsions before the grafting step. No further prior art has been located that reads on this limitation. As such, the instant claims contain a limitation not found in the prior art, and are allowable . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH K AMATO whose telephone number is (571)270-0341. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 am - 4:30 pm M-F. 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, Rob 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. 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. ELIZABETH K. AMATO Examiner Art Unit 1762 /ROBERT S JONES JR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1762 Application/Control Number: 18/291,767 Page 2 Art Unit: 1762 Application/Control Number: 18/291,767 Page 3 Art Unit: 1762 Application/Control Number: 18/291,767 Page 4 Art Unit: 1762
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