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 20, 21, 25, and 26, 27, and 30 in the reply filed on 06/02/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-9, and 22-24 and 28-29 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/02/2026.
It should be noted that the open cell foam is directed to the polymers of claim 29, which are not p-NIPAM. Claims 28 and 29 are therefore also withdrawn.
A Preliminary amendment was filed 02/16/2024.
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) 20 , 25 and 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ashraf et al. Ashraf et al disclose:
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See Abstract; and Figure 3 , page 300. Ashraf et al shows the use of p-NIPAM as a thermo-responsive drug delivery system . The number average molecular weight is inherent to the polymer selected. Claims 20, 25 and 26 are anticipated by Ashraf et al.
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.
Claim(s) 20, 21, 25, 26, 27 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ashraf et al as applied to claims 20 and 26 above, and further in view of Cao et al.
Ashraf et al teach the use of a thermos-responsive gel comprising p-NIPAM. It does not speak to the concentration of the p-NIPAM, or molecular weight or the size of the polymer pores. In a similar paper, Cao et al use a concentration which varies from 80 mg/ml at 25 C, to 0.5 mg/ml at 33 C. Variations in the concentration are recognized as optimizations within the skill of the ordinary practitioner. Molecular weight of p-NIPAM can not be evaluated by the US Patent & Trademark Office since we do not have labs to test for them. But number average molecular weight for each p-NIPAM can be selected according to its intended use. As for the pore size of the p-NIPAM polymer, those of ordinary skill would have been able to optimize porosity to accommodate the intended host material for drug delivery. As such, the claims would have been obvious to the ordinary practitioner given the teachings of Ashraf et al , in view Cao et al.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
The PubChem citation for p-NIPAM is cited for its structure and chemically identifiable characteristics such as molecular weight.
Correspondence
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/CARLOS A AZPURU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1617 caz
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