DETAILED ACTION
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 of Group I, claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 8/13/2026 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)).
Claims 11-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 8/13/2026.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 objected to because of the following informalities: (wherein x is…), the parentheses should be removed. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(B) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-10 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “R contains a sulfur atom and contains a thiocarbamoyl group having an aromatic hydrocarbon or an aliphatic hydrocarbon, a benzothiazole group having an aromatic hydrocarbon or an aliphatic hydrocarbon, or a -SO₃-Na⁻ group”. The limitation is unclear due to the use of “and” and “or”. For purposes of expediting prosecution, the claim is interpreted as R contains 1) a sulfur atom and contains a thiocarbamoyl group having an aromatic hydrocarbon or an aliphatic hydrocarbon, 2) a benzothiazole group having an aromatic hydrocarbon or an aliphatic hydrocarbon, or 3) a -SO₃-Na⁻ group.
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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hu et al (CN115572416).
In setting forth this rejection a machine translation of CN115572416 has been relied upon and all citations to paragraph numbers in the discussion below are with respect to the machine translation.
Hu teaches a composition comprising 100 parts of a diene rubber, 5.6 parts of an activator such as zinc stearate, 1 part of an accelerator such as 1,6-bis(N,N'-dibenzothiazolecarbamoyldithio)hexane, 2 parts of sulfur [0013-0014, example 1].
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/WENWEN CAI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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