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
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 35-54 in the reply filed on 10/31/25 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 50-54 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Dickson et al (US 2022/0177341).
Claims 50-52: Dickson teaches in figure 3 (part of fig.3, annotated, is copied herein) and [0138]-0145] the claimed process. Influent PFA-impacted wastewater at 1 [0139] is pretreated with ozo-fractionation at 2-4, and then the ozo-fractionated water is treated with adsorbent media at 5. Treated water is effused at 5.
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The influent has PFAs and PFA precursors as claimed, and the ozofractionation converts precursors to PFAs. See [0140.] Oxidizing agent is ozone.
The PFA-impacted wastewater contains PFAs and PFA precursors – see [0140]. Since it is wastewater, sewer water, solvents etc., they would contain other organic matter or compounds as well.
While Dickson is silent on it, the enhancement of the adsorptive media implicitly or inherently follows because the conversion of precursors of PFAs to PFAs. Such is also implicit or inherent since Dickson provides the ozone – oxidation steps prior to passing through the adsorbents. Or, at the least it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill that that would be the result of the process.
"[T]he discovery of a previously unappreciated property of a prior art composition, or of a scientific explanation for the prior art’s functioning, does not render the old composition patentably new to the discoverer." Atlas Powder Co. v. IRECO Inc., 190 F.3d 1342, 1347, 51 USPQ2d 1943, 1947 (Fed. Cir. 1999). Thus the claiming of a new use, new function or unknown property which is inherently present in the prior art does not necessarily make the claim patentable. In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1254, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977)
"[I]n considering the disclosure of a reference, it is proper to take into account not only specific teachings of the reference but also the inferences which one skilled in the art would reasonably be expected to draw therefrom." In re Preda, 401 F.2d 825, 826, 159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA 1968)
Claim 53: ozone with UV – see [0074.]
Claim 54: adsorptive media is GAC, ion exchange, etc. [0145.]
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/9/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. They are addressed in the rejection.
Argument: Dickson does not teach increasing capacity of .. the media: since Dickson teaches the same steps as claimed, this is implicit as shown.
Other organic compounds: water and wastewater inherently contains things like humic acid, etc. Inherent.
Dickson teaches pretreating sewage: while it does, it also teaches pretreating wastewater, surface water tec., which is what is relied on in the rejection.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRISHNAN S MENON whose telephone number is (571)272-1143. The examiner can normally be reached Flexible, but generally Monday-Friday: 8:00AM-4:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Prem C Singh can be reached at 571-272-6381. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KRISHNAN S MENON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1777
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