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 .
Response to Amendment
Withdrawn Rejections
The 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections of claims 1-20 are withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendment and clarifications in the response filed on April 9, 2026.
The 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of claims 1-20 over Hoshino in view of Ichihashi, as the primary combination of references, are withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendment filed on April 9, 2026.
New Rejections
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-5, 7-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
In line 7 of claim 1, it is unclear what is meant by the limitation of “an average molecular axis” since the term “average” implies that there are multiple molecular axes such that the number of multiple molecular axes could be a very large one, such that it is also unclear as to how the average molecular axis is selected.
Claims 2-5, 7-16 and 18-20 depend on and include all the subject matter of claim 1, but none provide any solutions to the indefinite issue described above.
Clarification and/or amendment, accompanied by relevant citation(s) from the specification and/or teaching references are required.
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Sow-Fun Hon whose telephone number is (571)272-1492. The examiner is on a flexible schedule but can usually be reached during a regular workweek between the hours of 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Aaron Austin, can be reached at (571)272-8935. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)273-8300.
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/Sophie Hon/
Sow-Fun Hon
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782
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