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 .
This action is responsive to applicants’ amendment and response received March 30, 2026. Claims 1-7, 10-19, and 21-23 are currently pending.
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.
All rejections set forth in the previous action are withdrawn in view of applicants’ amendment and response.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-4, 7, 15, 18, 19, and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stern, US 2020/0165544.
Stern teaches an organic anti-bacterial dryer sheet (see abstract) wherein the dryer sheet is a single layer of hemp fibers infused with essential oils to provide fragrance and anti-bacterial properties (¶26). It would have been obvious to use a single layer of hemp as a dryer sheet to impart anti-bacterial properties to fabrics as this exact scenario is taught by the reference. The examiner maintains that as an anti-bacterial sheet is a primary goal of the reference, one of ordinary skill in the art would expect a significant i.e. 2-log reduction in bacteria to be achieved.
With respect to the amount of essential oil applied to the dryer sheet, persons of skill in the art will optimize the amount to achieve the desired effect without using excess product, thereby wasting product and increasing cost.
With respect to claim 15, as the dryer sheet contains only the essential oil antimicrobial active, the “consisting of” limitation is satisfied.
Claims 1-7, 10-19, and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stern, US 2020/0165544 in view of Ramirez et al, US 2015/0126430.
Stern is relied upon as set forth above. Though disinfection properties of a dryer sheet are a primary concern of Stern, it is achieved with essential oils, not hydrogen peroxide.
Ramirez et al teach a wrinkle reducing and deodorizing dryer sheet which may also contain a disinfectant that includes quats and hydrogen peroxide (¶37). An example is a dryer sheet impregnated with 0.1% benzalkonium chloride and placed in a dryer with fabrics at a temperature of from 104-122°F for 30 minutes (¶55-58). Both hydrogen peroxide and benzalkonium chloride are powerful antimicrobial agents, and are preferred by the present invention (see claims and ¶10 of the present specification).
And so, one of ordinary skill in the art, concerned with providing disinfection properties to a single layer dryer sheet, would find it obvious to use well-known disinfectants as taught by Ramirez et al to provide additional disinfection to the dryer sheets of Stern.
The examiner acknowledges the dryer sheets of Ramirez et al are multi-layer. The reference is relied upon to demonstrate that quats and hydrogen peroxide are well-known disinfectants used in the art for application to dryer sheets to impart disinfection properties, and this is true whether the dryer sheet is a single or multi-layer.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES I BOYER whose telephone number is (571)272-1311. The examiner can normally be reached M-S 10-430.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at 5712722817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHARLES I BOYER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
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