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 .
Election/Restrictions
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-13, drawn to a method for producing HEVL-filtering contact lenses, classified in G02C7/04.
II. Claims 14 and 15, drawn to a HEVL-filtering contact lens obtained according to a method of claim 10, classified in G02C7/04.
The inventions are independent or distinct, each from the other because:
Inventions I and II are related as process of making and product made. The inventions are distinct if either or both of the following can be shown: (1) that the process as claimed can be used to make another and materially different product or (2) that the product as claimed can be made by another and materially different process (MPEP § 806.05(f)). In the instant case the product as claimed can be made by another and materially different process, such as a method comprising casting the polymerizable composition in the shape of rods or buttons, and then lathe cutting the rods or buttons into a contact lens shape. This is because DiBella, JR. et al. (US 2019/0339544 A1, cited in IDS) teaches that contact lenses can be manufactured employing various conventional techniques, to yield a shaped article having the desired posterior and anterior lens surfaces [0041], that various processes are known for curing a monomeric mixture in the production of contact lenses including, by way of example, static casting [0041], that static casting methods involve charging the monomer mixture between two mold sections, one mold section shaped to form the anterior lens surface and the other mold section shaped to form the posterior lens surface, and curing the monomer mixture while retained in the mold assembly to form a lens, by free radical polymerization of the mixture [0041], and that additionally, the monomer mixtures may be case in the shape of rods or buttons, which are then lathe cut into a desired lens shape [0041].
Restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper because all the inventions listed in this action are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious search and/or examination burden if restriction were not required because one or more of the following reasons apply:
It is necessary to search for one of the inventions in a manner that is not likely to result in finding art pertinent to the other invention, such as employing different search queries because the inventions are independent and distinct from each other.
Applicant is advised that the reply to this requirement to be complete must include (i) an election of an invention to be examined even though the requirement may be traversed (37 CFR 1.143) and (ii) identification of the claims encompassing the elected invention.
The election of an invention may be made with or without traverse. To reserve a right to petition, the election must be made with traverse. If the reply does not distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election shall be treated as an election without traverse. Traversal must be presented at the time of election in order to be considered timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are added after the election, applicant must indicate which of these claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
During a telephone conversation with Jian Zhou on 01/09/2026 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Group I, claims 1-13. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 14 and 15 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-13 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 3 recites a period in line 6, which is before the end of the claim and which is not used with an abbreviation or reference character. Each claim must end with a period, and periods may not be used elsewhere in the claims except for abbreviations (MPEP 608.01(m)). Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-13 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “at least one hydrophilic N-vinyl amide monomer that is present in an amount in the polymerizable composition sufficient for ensuring said at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin to be grafted a polymer matrix formed from the polymerizable composition” in lines 12-16, which is indefinite because the thing that is being grafted and the thing to which it is being grafted are unclear. Based on the specification of the instant application (p. 2, 10, 11, 23), for further examination of the claims, this limitation is interpreted as “at least one hydrophilic N-vinyl amide monomer that is present in an amount in the polymerizable composition sufficient for ensuring said at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin to be grafted to a polymer matrix formed from the polymerizable composition”.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "said at least Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim because claim 1 recites the limitation “at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin” in line 10 and not “at least Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin”. Also, it is unclear what "said at least Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin" references, and the definition of “at least Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin” is unclear. For further examination of the claims, this limitation is interpreted as “said at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin”.
Claim 2 recites the limitation “a substituted phenyl group which has at least two substituents located at 2- and 6- positions of the substituted phenyl group” in lines 2-3, which is indefinite because the 2-position of the substituted phenyl group can have a substituent, but substituted phenyl group cannot have a 6-position because the phenyl group can have a maximum of five substituents because one of the six carbons in the phenyl group must be bonded to the porphyrin. Since claim 3 allows A3, A4, and A5 to be H and does not allow A2 and A6 to be H, the Office interprets this limitation, for further examination of the claims, as “a substituted phenyl group which has at least two substituents located at 2- and 5- positions of the substituted phenyl group”.
Claim 3 recites the limitation “In a preferred embodiment, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6 are identical to one other and are Cl or F” in lines 6-7, which is indefinite because the phrase “In a preferred embodiment” makes it unclear if the limitation following it is required. Since claim 3 already defines “A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6” in lines 4-6, for further examination of the claims, this limitation is interpreted as not being required.
Claim 10 recites the limitation “the polymerizable composition comprises at least one polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker which comprises: (1)” “(2)” “(3)” “(4)” “(5)” “(6) combinations thereof” in lines 1-73, which is indefinite because it is unclear if the “at least one polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker” is required to comprise all of “(1)” “(2)” “(3)” “(4)” “(5)” “(6) combinations thereof” or at least one of “(1)” “(2)” “(3)” “(4)” “(5)” “(6) combinations thereof”. Based on the specification of the instant application (p. 30-32), for further examination of the claims, this limitation is interpreted as “the polymerizable composition comprises at least one polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker which is selected from the group consisting of: (1)” “(2)” “(3)” “(4)” “(5)” “(6) combinations thereof”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mahadevan et al. (US 2018/0371139 A1, cited in IDS) in view of Cefalo et al. (US 2017/0235034 A1, cited in IDS) and Liu et al. (US 8,658,748 B2, cited in IDS).
Regarding claim 1, Mahadevan teaches a method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprising preparing a reactive monomer mixture, transferring the reactive monomer mixture onto a first mold, placing a second mold on top the first mold filled with the reactive monomer mixture, curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265], subjecting the lens to extraction to remove unreacted components and release the lens from the lens mold [0267], and sterilizing the lenses [0271], wherein the silicone hydrogel contains at least one hydrophilic monomer and at least one silicone-containing component that are covalently bound to one another [0029], wherein the hydrophilic monomer is optionally an N-vinyl amide [0095], wherein the hydrophilic monomer may be present in an amount in the range of about 0.1 to about 80 weight percent, based on the total weight of the reactive components in the reactive monomer mixture [0103], wherein the silicone-containing component comprises one or more polymerizable compounds, where each compound independently comprises at least one siloxane group, at least one siloxane group, and one or more linking groups connecting the polymerizable group(s) to the siloxane group(s) [0104], wherein the one or more polymerizable groups are independently a (meth)acrylate, a styryl, a vinyl ether, a (meth)acrylamide, an N-vinyl lactam, an N-vinylamide, an O-vinylcarbamate, an O-vinylcarbonate, a vinyl group, or mixtures of the foregoing [0105], wherein the reactive mixture further comprises a radical initiator [0012, 0049, 0094, 0248, 0253, 0262, 0264], wherein the initiator is optionally a thermal initiator [0042] and optionally generates free radicals at moderately elevated temperatures [0253], wherein it is generally desirable to add one or more crosslinking agents to the reactive mixture [0243, 0049, 0262], wherein the cross-linking agents may be selected from bifunctional crosslinkers, trifunctional crosslinkers, tetrafunctional crosslinkers, and mixtures thereof, including silicone-containing and non-silicone containing cross-linking agents [0243], wherein the reactive mixture further contains a compound [0012] that is effective at blocking high energy light and, in some cases, high energy visible light [0006], that comprises a polymerizable group [0009], and that may be present in an amount in the range of about 0.1% to about 10% by weight [0092], which reads on a method for producing contact lenses that are optionally HEVL-filtering contact lenses, comprising the steps of: (1) providing a mold for making a contact lens, wherein the mold has a first mold half with a first molding surface defining the anterior surface of a contact lens and a second mold half with a second molding surface defining the posterior surface of the contact lens, wherein said first and second mold halves are configured to receive each other such that a cavity is formed between said first and second molding surfaces, (2) introducing a polymerizable composition into the cavity, wherein the polymerizable composition comprises (b) from about 0.1% to about 80% by weight of at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer, wherein said at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer optionally comprises at least one hydrophilic N-vinyl amide monomer, (c) at least one siloxane-containing vinylic monomer, optionally (d) at least one polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker and/or at least one non-silicone vinylic monomer, (e) 0% by weight of at least one hydrophobic non-silicone vinylic monomer, and (f) at least one radical initiator that is optionally at least one thermal free radical initiator, wherein the sum of the amounts of components (a) to (f) is 90 to 99.9% by weight relative to total amount of all polymerizable components in the polymerizable composition, (3) curing optionally thermally the polymerizable composition in the mold to form a lens precursor that comprises the polymer matrix, and (4) subjecting the lens precursor to one or more post-molding processes selected from extraction, sterilization, and combinations thereof, to form a contact lens that is optionally a HEVL-filtering contact lens capable of filtering HEVL.
Mahadevan does not teach a specific embodiment wherein the contact lenses are HEVL-filtering contact lenses, and wherein the step to form a contact lens is to form a HEVL-filtering contact lens capable of filtering HEVL. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to select Mahadevan’s compound that is effective at blocking high energy light and, in some cases, high energy visible light in Mahadevan’s method to be effective at blocking high energy visible light. The proposed modification would read on wherein the contact lenses are HEVL-filtering contact lenses, and wherein the step to form a contact lens is to form a HEVL-filtering contact lens capable of filtering HEVL as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because Mahadevan teaches that the reactive mixture further contains a compound [0012] that is effective at blocking high energy light and, in some cases, high energy visible light [0006], which would have beneficial for the silicone hydrogel contact lens made by Mahadevan’s method blocking high energy visible light because Mahadevan teaches that the method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprises curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265].
Mahadevan does not teach that the polymerizable composition further comprises (a) at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin, and that the polymer matrix has Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin grafted thereto. However, Cefalo teaches Cu-porphyrin compounds of formula [0452]
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, wherein X is carbon [0364], that contain one or more polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide [0452], wherein the addition of these polymerizable groups can be used to functionalize an optical filter and make it polymerizable by, e.g., free-radical polymerization [0452], wherein reactive porphyrin will enable chemical bonding to a polymer matrix, where they are dispersed, by means of heat [0452], wherein the Cu-porphyrin compound is present in an optical filter that is present in a first system [0005], wherein the first system is optionally a contact lens [0031]. Mahadevan and Cefalo are analogous art because both references are in the same field of endeavor of contact lenses. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use Cefalo’s Cu-porphyrin compounds of formula
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, wherein X is carbon, that contain one or more polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide to modify Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in Mahadevan’s method, such that Cefalo’s one or more polymerizable groups polymerize with Mahadevan’s monomers in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture during Mahadevan’s step of curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization. The proposed modification would read on wherein the polymerizable composition further comprises (a) at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin, wherein the polymer matrix has Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin grafted thereto as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because Cefalo teaches that the Cu-porphyrin compounds of formula [0452]
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, wherein X is carbon [0364], that contain one or more polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide [0452], are beneficial for functionalizing an optical filter and making it polymerizable by, e.g., free-radical polymerization [0452], that the Cu-porphyrin compounds are beneficial for enabling chemical bonding to a polymer matrix, where they are dispersed, by means of heat [0452], that the Cu-porphyrin compound is beneficial for being useful in an optical filter that is present in a first system [0005] that is optionally a contact lens [0031], that the porphyrin is beneficial for being a dye that is useful in selective blue-light filtering coatings that exhibit tunable filtering [0146], that the porphyrin is beneficial for being good candidates to be used in coatings and/or substrates that can provide selective blockage of harmful HEVL due to their Soret band in 400-500 nm spectral range [0362], that polymeric forms of the Cu-porphyrin compounds can be advantageous compared to the non-polymer Cu-porphyrin compounds [0459], and that polymerizable absorptive dyes with acrylate functional groups are expected to be well-dispersed in acrylate-based matrix used for making contact lenses due to the similar chemical structures between the dyes and the matrix [0459], which would have been desirable for Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in Mahadevan’s method because Mahadevan teaches that the method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprises curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265], that the reactive mixture further comprises a radical initiator [0012, 0049, 0094, 0248, 0253, 0262, 0264], that the initiator is optionally a thermal initiator [0042] and optionally generates free radicals at moderately elevated temperatures [0253], and that the reactive mixture further contains a compound [0012] that is effective at blocking high energy light and, in some cases, high energy visible light [0006], and that comprises a polymerizable group [0009].
Mahadevan does not teach with sufficient specificity that the polymerizable composition comprises (b) from about 20% to about 70% by weight of the at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer, wherein said at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer comprises at least one hydrophilic N-vinyl amide monomer that is present in an amount in the polymerizable composition sufficient for ensuring said at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin to be grafted a polymer matrix formed from the polymerizable composition. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to select Mahadevan’s N-vinyl amide as Mahadevan’s at least one hydrophilic monomer, and to optimize the amount of Mahadevan’s N-vinyl amide in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture to be from about 20 weight percent to about 70 weight percent, based on the total weight of the reactive components in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture as claimed. The proposed modification would read on wherein the polymerizable composition comprises (b) from about 20% to about 70% by weight of the at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer, wherein said at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer comprises at least one hydrophilic N-vinyl amide monomer that is present in an amount in the polymerizable composition sufficient for ensuring said at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin to be grafted a polymer matrix formed from the polymerizable composition as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial for modifying the hydrophilicity, clarity, wettability, and/or protein uptake of Mahadevan’s silicone hydrogel, because it would have been beneficial for optimizing the water content, clarity, wettability, and/or protein uptake of Mahadevan’s silicone hydrogel, and because Mahadevan teaches that the method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprising curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265], that the silicone hydrogel contains at least one hydrophilic monomer [0029], that the hydrophilic monomer is optionally an N-vinyl amide [0095], that the amount of the hydrophilic monomers may be selected based upon the desired characteristics of the resulting hydrogel, including water content, clarity, wettability, protein uptake, and the like [0103], and that the hydrophilic monomer may be present in an amount in the range of about 0.1 to about 80 weight percent, based on the total weight of the reactive components in the reactive monomer mixture [0103], which means that the amount of Mahadevan’s N-vinyl amide in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in weight percent, based on the total weight of the reactive components in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture, would have affected the water content, clarity, wettability, and/or protein uptake of Mahadevan’s silicone hydrogel.
Mahadevan does not teach a specific embodiment wherein the polymerizable composition further comprises (d) at least one polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker and/or at least one non-silicone vinylic crosslinker. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to add Mahadevan’s one or more crosslinking agents selected from bifunctional crosslinkers, trifunctional crosslinkers, tetrafunctional crosslinkers, and mixtures thereof, including silicone-containing and non-silicone containing cross-linking agents to Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in Mahadevan’s method. The proposed modification would read on wherein the polymerizable composition further comprises (d) at least one polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker and/or at least one non-silicone vinylic crosslinker as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial for modifying the curing properties of Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in Mahadevan’s method and/or for modifying an extent of curing of Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in Mahadevan’s method because Mahadevan teaches that it is generally desirable to add one or more crosslinking agents to the reactive mixture [0243, 0049, 0262], that the cross-linking agents may be selected from bifunctional crosslinkers, trifunctional crosslinkers, tetrafunctional crosslinkers, and mixtures thereof, including silicone-containing and non-silicone containing cross-linking agents [0243], and that the method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprises curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265].
Mahadevan does not teach a specific embodiment wherein the (f) at least one free radical initiator is (f) at least one thermal free radical initiator. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to select Mahadevan’s thermal initiator that generates free radicals at moderately elevated temperatures as Mahadevan’s reactive initiator in Mahadevan’s reactive mixture in Mahadevan’s method. The proposed modification would read on wherein the (f) at least one free radical initiator is (f) at least one thermal free radical initiator as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial for providing Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture with the ability to be copolymerized and cured while being heated because Mahadevan teaches that the reactive mixture further comprises a radical initiator [0012, 0049, 0094, 0248, 0253, 0262, 0264], that the initiator is optionally a thermal initiator [0042] and optionally generates free radicals at moderately elevated temperatures [0253], and that the method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprises curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265].
Mahadevan does not teach with sufficient specificity wherein the sum of the amounts of components (a) to (f) is at least 95% by weight relative to total amount of all polymerizable components in the polymerizable composition. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to optimize the amount of Mahadevan’s compound that is effective at blocking high energy light and, in some cases, high energy visible light in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture to be from about 0.1% to 5% by weight. The proposed modification would read on wherein the sum of the amounts of components (a) to (f) is at least 95% and at most 99.9% by weight relative to total amount of all polymerizable components in the polymerizable composition as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial for optimizing effectiveness of Mahadevan’s silicone hydrogel contact lens at blocking high energy light and high energy visible light and for optimizing the solubility of Mahadevan’s compound with other comonomers in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture because Mahadevan teaches that the reactive mixture further contains a compound [0012] that is effective at blocking high energy light and, in some cases, high energy visible light [0006], that comprises a polymerizable group [0009], and that may be present in an amount in the range of about 0.1% to about 10% by weight [0092], that the upper limit is typically determined by the solubility of the compound with other comonomers and or diluents in the reactive monomer mix [0092], and that the making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprises curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265], which means that the amount of Mahadevan’s compound that is effective at blocking high energy light and, in some cases, high energy visible light in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in % by weight would have affected effectiveness of Mahadevan’s silicone hydrogel contact lens at blocking high energy light and high energy visible light and the solubility of Mahadevan’s compound with other comonomers in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture.
Mahadevan does not teach that the (3) curing the polymerizable composition in the mold to form a lens precursor that comprises the polymer matrix is (3) curing thermally the polymerizable composition in the mold in an oven to form a lens precursor that comprises the polymer matrix. However, Liu teaches that contact lens mold assemblies were placed in a nitrogen flushed oven to allow a polymerizable composition to thermally cure (62:4-6), wherein the polymerizable composition comprises V-64 (66:27-43), wherein the V-64 is 2,2’-Azobis-2-methyl propanenitrile (61:33-34), where the 2.2’-azobis-2-methyl propanenitrile is a thermal initiator (34:5-7). Mahadevan and Liu are analogous art because both references are in the same field of endeavor of contact lenses. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to perform Mahadevan’s step of curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens in Liu’s nitrogen flushed oven. The proposed modification would read on the (3) curing the polymerizable composition in the mold to form a lens precursor that comprises the polymer matrix is (3) curing thermally the polymerizable composition in the mold in an oven to form a lens precursor that comprises the polymer matrix as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because Liu teaches that placing contact lens mold assemblies in a nitrogen flushed oven is beneficial for allowing a polymerizable composition to thermally cure (62:4-6), wherein the polymerizable composition comprises V-64 (66:27-43), wherein the V-64 is 2,2’-Azobis-2-methyl propanenitrile (61:33-34), where the 2.2’-azobis-2-methyl propanenitrile is a thermal initiator (34:5-7), which means that performing Mahadevan’s step of curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens in Liu’s nitrogen flushed oven would have been beneficial for allowing Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture to thermally cure, which would have been desirable for Mahadevan’s method because Mahadevan teaches that the method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprises curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265], that the reactive mixture further comprises a radical initiator [0012, 0049, 0094, 0248, 0253, 0262, 0264], and that the initiator is optionally a thermal initiator that decomposes at a certain rate depending on the temperature [0042] and optionally generates free radicals at moderately elevated temperatures [0253].
Regarding claim 2, Mahadevan does not teach that each of the four aryl groups of each of said at least Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin is a substituted phenyl group which has at least two substituents located at 2- and 6- positions of the substituted phenyl group. However, Cefalo teaches Cu-porphyrin compounds of formula [0452]
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, wherein X is carbon [0364], each of R9 through R28 is independently H, F, Br, Cl, I, CH3, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, nitro, sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, a carboxylic ester, -R100-OH, -O-R200, -R100-N(R110R111), -R100-N+(R110R111R112), an aryl, a heteroaryl, acrylate, acryloyl, acrylamide, methacrylate, methacrylamide, thiol, amide, or a moiety represented by -L-P [0365], wherein R100 is a bond, -(CH2)n-, or a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, where n is 1-20 [0366], R110, R111, R112, and R200 are each independently H, Me, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, or a moiety represented by -L-P [0367], wherein P is a polymerizable group, and L is null or a linker [0368], wherein the Cu-porphyrin compounds contain one or more polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide [0452], wherein the addition of these polymerizable groups can be used to functionalize an optical filter and make it polymerizable by, e.g., free-radical polymerization [0452], wherein reactive porphyrin will enable chemical bonding to a polymer matrix, where they are dispersed, by means of heat [0452], wherein the Cu-porphyrin compound is present in an optical filter that is present in a first system [0005], wherein the first system is optionally a contact lens [0031]. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use Cefalo’s Cu-porphyrin compounds of formula
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, wherein X is carbon, each of R9 through R29 is independently H, F, Br, Cl, I, CH3, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, nitro, sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, a carboxylic ester, -R100-OH, -O-R200, -R100-N(R110R111), -R100-N+(R110R111R112), an aryl, a heteroaryl, acrylate, acryloyl, acrylamide, methacrylate, methacrylamide, thiol, amide, or a moiety represented by -L-P, wherein R100 is a bond, -(CH2)n-, or a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, where n is 1-20, R110, R111, R112, and R200 are each independently H, Me, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, or a moiety represented by -L-P, wherein P is a polymerizable group, and L is null or a linker, wherein each of R9, R13, R14, R18, R19, R23, R24, and R28 is not H, wherein the Cu-porphyrin compounds contain one or more polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide, to modify Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in Mahadevan’s method, such that Cefalo’s one or more polymerizable groups polymerize with Mahadevan’s monomers in Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture during Mahadevan’s step of curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization. The proposed modification would read on wherein each of the four aryl groups of each of said at least Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin is a substituted phenyl group which has at least two substituents located at 2- and 6- positions of the substituted phenyl group as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because Cefalo teaches that the Cu-porphyrin compounds of formula [0452]
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, wherein X is carbon [0364], each of R9 through R28 is independently H, F, Br, Cl, I, CH3, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, nitro, sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, a carboxylic ester, -R100-OH, -O-R200, -R100-N(R110R111), -R100-N+(R110R111R112), an aryl, a heteroaryl, acrylate, acryloyl, acrylamide, methacrylate, methacrylamide, thiol, amide, or a moiety represented by -L-P [0365], wherein R100 is a bond, -(CH2)n-, or a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, where n is 1-20 [0366], R110, R111, R112, and R200 are each independently H, Me, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, or a moiety represented by -L-P [0367], wherein P is a polymerizable group, and L is null or a linker [0368], wherein the Cu-porphyrin compounds contain one or more polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide [0452], wherein the Cu-porphyrin compounds contain one or more polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide [0452], are beneficial for functionalizing an optical filter and making it polymerizable by, e.g., free-radical polymerization [0452], that the Cu-porphyrin compounds are beneficial for enabling chemical bonding to a polymer matrix, where they are dispersed, by means of heat [0452], that the Cu-porphyrin compound is beneficial for being useful in an optical filter that is present in a first system [0005] that is optionally a contact lens [0031], that the porphyrin is beneficial for being a dye that is useful in selective blue-light filtering coatings that exhibit tunable filtering [0146], that the porphyrin is beneficial for being good candidates to be used in coatings and/or substrates that can provide selective blockage of harmful HEVL due to their Soret band in 400-500 nm spectral range [0362], that polymeric forms of the Cu-porphyrin compounds can be advantageous compared to the non-polymer Cu-porphyrin compounds [0459], and that polymerizable absorptive dyes with acrylate functional groups are expected to be well-dispersed in acrylate-based matrix used for making contact lenses due to the similar chemical structures between the dyes and the matrix [0459], which would have been desirable for Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture in Mahadevan’s method because Mahadevan teaches that the method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprises curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265], that the reactive mixture further comprises a radical initiator [0012, 0049, 0094, 0248, 0253, 0262, 0264], that the initiator is optionally a thermal initiator [0042] and optionally generates free radicals at moderately elevated temperatures [0253], and that the reactive mixture further contains a compound [0012] that is effective at blocking high energy light and, in some cases, high energy visible light [0006], and that comprises a polymerizable group [0009].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 3, Mahadevan et al. (US 2018/0371139 A1, cited in IDS) in view of Cefalo et al. (US 2017/0235034 A1, cited in IDS) and Liu et al. (US 8,658,748 B2, cited in IDS) renders obvious the method of claim 2 as explained above.
Mahadevan does not teach that said at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin is represented by formula (P1)
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(P1) in which A2 and A6 independently of each other are Cl, F, CCl3, CF3, CH3, CH(CH3)2, C(CH3)3, OCH3, OH, or NO2, A2, A4, and A5 independently of one another are H, Cl, F, CCl3, CF3, CH3, CH(CH3)2, C(CH3)3, OCH3, OH, NH2, or NO2, and that in a preferred embodiment, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6 are identical to one other and are Cl of F. Although Cefalo teaches Cu-porphyrin compounds of formula [0452]
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, wherein X is carbon [0364], each of R1 through R9 is independently H, Cl, Br, F, I, Me, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, or a moiety represented by -L-P, each of R9 through R28 is independently H, F, Br, Cl, I, CH3, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, nitro, sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, a carboxylic ester, -R100-OH, -O-R200, -R100-N(R110R111), -R100-N+(R110R111R112), an aryl, a heteroaryl, acrylate, acryloyl, acrylamide, methacrylate, methacrylamide, thiol, amide, or a moiety represented by -L-P [0365], wherein R100 is a bond, -(CH2)n-, or a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, where n is 1-20 [0366], R110, R111, R112, and R200 are each independently H, Me, a straight alkyl chain having 2-20 carbon atoms, a branched alkyl having 2-20 carbon atoms, or a moiety represented by -L-P [0367], wherein P is a polymerizable group, and L is null or a linker [0368], claim 1 requires “the polymer matrix having Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin grafter thereto” and “ensuring said at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin to be grafted a polymer matrix formed from the polymerizable composition”. The only teaching or suggestion of Cefalo for this limitation is where Cefalo teaches that the Cu-porphyrin compounds of their formula contain one or more polymerizable groups [0452], that the addition of these polymerizable groups, such as acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, methacrylamide, amines, amides, thiols, carboxylic acids, etc., can be used to functionalized an optical filer and make it polymerizable by, e.g., free-radical polymerization [0452], and that reactive porphyrin will enable chemical bonding to a polymer matrix, where they are dispersed, by means of heat [0452]. Mahadevan’s reactive monomer mixture is compatible with polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide, but it is not compatible with polymerizable groups that are amines, amides, thiols, or carboxylic acid because Mahadevan teaches that the method of making a silicone hydrogel contact lens comprises curing the reactive monomer mixture by free radical copolymerization to form the silicone hydrogel in the shape of a contact lens [0265], and that the reactive mixture further comprises a radical initiator [0012, 0049, 0094, 0248, 0253, 0262, 0264]. The claimed formula (P1) does not comprise polymerizable groups that are acrylate, methacrylate, acrylamide, or methacrylamide, or that can be polymerized by free radical polymerization. Therefore, Mahadevan, Cefalo, Liu, and the prior art of record do not teach or suggest using said at least one Cu(II)-meso-aryl-substituted porphyrin that is represented by formula (P1) in the method of claim 2.
Correspondence
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/DAVID T KARST/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1767