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 .
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 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.
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 final rejection. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on February 16, 2026 has been entered.
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.
And/or
(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.
Claims 1-5 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being Pyun by WO2017011533.
The applied reference has a common assignee and common inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Note the above is solely with respect to the §102(a)(2) rejection. The §102(a)(1) rejection is also applied and has slightly different requirements for applying exceptions under §102(b)(1)(A) or §102(b)(1)(B)
Pyun teaches sulfur, selenium and diiospropenyl copolymers in the recited ratio ranges of Claim 21 in Figure 22 anticipating said claim. The example making these copolymers produces liquid copolymers anticipating Claim 22. See, for instance, ¶[00225] For Claims 1-5, Pyun teaches sulfur copolymerized with vinylaniline in ¶[00182]. ¶[00121] and ¶[00122] give specific ranges of amounts of sulfur (calcogenide) 50- 50 wt%, 60 – 70 wt%, 70-80 wt% and 80 to 95 wt% and 50 50 wt% of the non-homopolymerizable monomer (like the vinyl aniline exemplified) and , termonomers (¶[00124]) in the recited levels. Additionally, as in Figure 16, the use of the term styreninc comonomers immediately envisages styrene as this styrenic termonomer (activated arene) or DIB with the vinyl aniline as these are already exemplified monomers. Powders and liquids (as discussed above for the selenium copolymer) are taught as the result of the synthesis in ¶[00144], ¶[00155] making Pyun sufficiently specific to anticipate powder and liquid copolymers according to the claims.
While Pyun does not specifically teach the sulfur copolymers are vulcanization agents, the copolymers recited by the claims are the same as those in Pyun as detailed above and there I no evidence of record to suggest the copolymers of Pyun are not capable of being vulcanization agents.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9, 12-19 are allowed. The closest prior art is Hendry (U.S. 2,989,513) which teaches vulcanization agents and latexes according to the claims but for the comonomers listed by Claim 6. Hendry does not teach or suggest any of these specific amines and it is unclear how one of ordinary skill in the art would practice Hendry using any of the recited amines without the benefit of hindsight.
Pyun (WO2017011533) teaches selenium sulfide in making sulfur polymers but only reasonably suggests them with respect making sulfur polymers for their optical properties. (¶[00202]) rather than anything to do with vulcanization even though Pyun teaches sulfur polymers, generally, useful in elastomers. (Abstract). Pyun is open to many different types of sulfur containing polymers many not made using selenium sulfide. There is no teaching or suggestion of why to use sulfur polymers taught for their optical properties as vulcanization agents for elastomers without the benefit of hindsight.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s claim amendments and remarks filed February 16, 2026 have been fully considered and are sufficient to overcome Hendry as Hendry does not teach or suggest any of Claim 1 or Claim 21’s comonomers or combination of chalcogenides. Said rejections are withdrawn.
Applicant’s Rule 130 declaration filed February 27, 2026 in response to the interview of February 24, 2026 has been fully considered but is not sufficient to overcome the rejection based on Pyun. The Rule 130 declaration solely states the inventorship of both Pyun and the instant application and then states the §102(b)(1)A exception is used. No part of the Rule 130 declaration attributing the prior art subject matter applicable against the claims originated with one or more members of the inventive entity of the instant application. In other words, the Rule 130 declaration filed February 27, 2026 does not sufficiently establish Pyun (WO2017011533) is an inventor-originated disclosure especially in light of the fact there are different non-common inventors between the instant application and Pyun and this application is also a CIP. See MPEP §717.01(a)(1) Therefore, the Rule 130 declaration is insufficient to overcome the §102(a)(1) rejection of record over Pyun.
Further, Pyun is also applicable under §102(a)(2) and no declaration (for §102(b)(2)(A)/(B) or statement under §102(b)(2)(C) has been filed.
Conclusion
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/Christopher M Rodd/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759