Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 09, 2026
Application No. 18/370,664

CLARIFIED RANDOM ETHYLENE POLYPROPYLENE COPOLYMER

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 20, 2023
Priority
Sep 22, 2022 — provisional 63/409,061
Examiner
FANG, SHANE
Art Unit
1766
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
TotalEnergies SE
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
76%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 76% — above average
76%
Career Allowance Rate
1152 granted / 1509 resolved
+11.3% vs TC avg
Strong +19% interview lift
Without
With
+18.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
68 currently pending
Career history
1569
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.8%
-39.2% vs TC avg
§103
54.5%
+14.5% vs TC avg
§102
19.8%
-20.2% vs TC avg
§112
12.8%
-27.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1509 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . DETAILED ACTION Election/Restrictions The applicant has elected Species I1 (claims 1-2, 8-14 and 30) without indicating traverse, and no argument has been submitted. Applicant’s election in the reply is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.03(a)). This restriction is made FINAL. See previous action for the reasons of applying restriction. 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. Claim(s) 1, 8-14, and 30 is(are) rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rego et al. (WO 20200086639, US 20220002528 as English equivalent). As to claims 1, 8-14, and 30, Rego (claims, abs., Table1, Ex.5) discloses an injection molded composition comprising 300 ppm (0.03%) of calcium stearate (would inherently be capable of being an acid neutralizer) and Zieglar-Natta catalyzed random copolymer (100-0.78%=99.22, additive total is 7800 ppm, [0152]) of propylene and ethylene having an ethylene content of 4.04% (propylene would be 95.96%). The disclosed composition would inherently exhibit the claimed properties of haze values and impact strengths, because in view of the substantially identical composition (in this case, the disclosed copolymer structure, loading of acid neutralizer, composition wt%, Zieglar-Natta catalyst, and molding method), it appears that the adduct would have inherently possessed the claimed properties. See MPEP § 2112. Allowable Subject Matter The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance: Claim(s) is(are) objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claim(s) 2 is(are) allowable over the closest prior art: Rego et al. (WO 20200086639, US 20220002528 as English equivalent). Rego fails to teach the claimed random of propylene and ethylene having an ethylene content of 5.5-12 wt%. Therefore, claim 2 is(are) allowable. Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance”. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHANE FANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7378. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thurs. 8am-6pm. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Randy Gulakowski can be reached on 571.572.1302. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SHANE FANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 20, 2023
Application Filed
Jul 20, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
76%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+18.8%)
2y 5m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1509 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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