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
All outstanding rejections, except for those maintained below, are withdrawn in light of applicant’s amendment filed on 6/17/2026.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior office action.
The new grounds of rejection set forth below are necessitated by applicant’s amendment filed on 6/17/2026. In particular, claim 1 has been amended to include a plasticizer mixture, and claim 9 is new. Thus, the following action is properly made final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-3, 6, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Courchay (US 11,597,897) in view of Labeque (US 10,336,973).
With respect to claims 1, 2, and 6, Courchay discloses a water-soluble film having a compartment (i.e., bag) comprising detergent (col. 6, lines 14-34), preferably a liquid detergent (col. 8, lines 20-26). The water-soluble film comprises a water-soluble polymer and dose articles made therefrom, wherein the water-soluble polymer includes a blend of a caseinate polymer (casein salt) and a polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer (PVA) (abstract). Courchay teaches that the water-soluble film is prepared from a weight ratio of caseinate polymer to PVA is 25:75 to 95:5 (col. 12, lines 21-24). Exemplified formulations include weight ratio of sodium caseinate to PVA of 40/60 and 20/80 (col. 11, Table 1). Courchay teaches that a plasticizer added in an amount of preferably 20-30 wt % of the film (col. 12, lines 40-42), which based on the example with caseinate to PVA ratio of 40/60, the amount of plasticizer per 100 parts by mass of PVA is about 42.
Courchay teaches that the plasticizer includes a non-aqueous plasticizer selected from sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, polyols such as dipropylene glycol, and mixtures thereof (col. 2, line 64 to col. 3, line 22) but fails to disclose a mixture of plasticizers with one having Tm ≥ 80°C and Tm ≤ 50°C.
Labeque discloses a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol film comprising a plasticizer blend including dipropylene glycol as a first plasticizer (reads on claimed b2), a sugar alcohol such as sorbitol as a second plasticizer (reads on claimed b1), and a polyol such as glycerin as a third plasticizer (also reads on claimed b2) in order to improve aged tensile strength (abstract). Labeque teaches that a mixture of solid (Tm ≥ 80°C) and liquid plasticizers (Tm ≤ 50°C) (col. 7, lines 28-46). Each plasticizer is used in an amount of 10-80 wt % of the entire plasticizer, e.g., including 10-40 wt % first plasticizer, 10-30 wt % second plasticizer, and 40-70 wt % third plasticizer inter alia (col. 7, line 47 to col. 9, line 54). In Example 1, the amount of claimed b1 is 17 phr and the amount of b2 is 12.6 phr (Table 4), which provides for a weight a ratio of b1/b2 of 1.3.
Given that both Courchay and Labeque are drawn to polyvinyl alcohol films comprising polyol plasticizers and further given that a specific combination of polyols and sugar alcohols is particularly advantageous in the polyvinyl alcohol films as taught by Labeque, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize a mixture of plasticizers like claimed in the polyvinyl alcohol film taught by Courchay.
With respect to claim 3, Courchay teaches that the moisture content is at least 4 wt %, preferably 5-10 wt % (col. 4, lines 4-9).
With respect to claim 8, Courchay teaches forming the dose article by sealing two water-soluble films together and then adding the detergent composition within the dose article (col. 8, lines 20-26).
With respect to claim 9, Courchay teaches that the film is prepared by mixing caseinate polymer and PVA and then preferably formed into a film by casting (col. 5, line 66 to col. 6, line 7), which inherently is cast on a cast surface, and subsequently dried (col. 11, lines 22-31).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Specifically, applicant argues that Courchay does not disclose a mixture of plasticizers having claimed ratio of b1/b2 of 0.1-5.
The examiner agrees, however, Labeque is relied upon to teach the claimed mixture having b1/b2.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Del Sole can be reached at (571)272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VICKEY NERANGIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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