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 .
Claim status
Claims 16-25 filed 08/21/2023 are pending in the application and are hereby examined on the merits.
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 23 and 25 are 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 23 recites that the deodorized oil comprises less than 500 ppb “unwanted” epoxypropanol fatty acid esters. The phrase “unwanted” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear what kind of expoxypropanol fatty esters are wanted or unwanted. Or does it mean that any epoxypropanol fatty acid esters is unwanted? Claim 25 is rejected for the same reason. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Yasukawa JPH0746968B2 (English translation and original document relied upon for reference, hereinafter referred to as Yasukawa).
Regarding claims 16 and 19, Yasukawa teaches a glyceride mixture comprising 0-10 wt % monoglyceride, 5-65 wt% diglyceride and the rest being triglyceride for making oil spray when combined with ethanol (Abstract), in particular, Yasukawa includes an embodiment teaching a glyceride mixture obtained from subjecting soybean oil to transesterification reaction in the presence of glycerol and a catalyst followed by deodorization, in which the glyceride mixture comprises 63% triglyceride (e.g., TG), 35% diglyceride (e.g., DG) and 2% monoglyceride (e.g., MG) (see example 1 on page 3, and Table 1 of the original document).
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 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasukawa JPH0746968B2 (English translation and original document relied upon for reference, hereinafter referred to as Yasukawa).
Regarding claims 16-20, Yasukawa teaches a glyceride mixture comprising 0-10 wt % monoglyceride, 5-65 wt% diglyceride and the rest being triglyceride for making oil spray when combined with ethanol (Abstract). Further, Yasukawa teaches adding 0.2-5 wt% phospholipid to the glyceride mixture to improve storage stability and spattering property (Abstract). Therefore, Yasukawa teaches a monoglyceride, diglyceride and triglyceride amounts that overlap with the ranges of each glycerides as recited in the claims (for example, when the glyceride mixture comprises 5% monoglyceride, 40% diglyceride and 1% phospholipids, then the amount of triglyceride in the glyceride mixture would be 100% - 5% - 40% -1% = 54%). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. (MPEP 2144.05 I).
Regarding the limitation about the glyceride mixture being “deodorized”, Yasukawa includes an embodiment teaching a glyceride mixture obtained from subjecting soybean oil to transesterification in the presence of glycerol and a catalyst followed by deodorization, in which the obtained glyceride mixture comprises 63% triglyceride (e.g., TG), 35% diglyceride (e.g., DG) and 2% monoglyceride (e.g., MG) (see example 1 on page 3, and Table 1 of the original document). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have deodorized the glyceride mixture after transesterification so as to remove odoriferous compounds in the glyceride mixture which will improve the quality of the glyceride mixture.
Claims 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasukawa as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Peter US Patent No. 6,579,996 B2 (hereinafter referred to as Peter).
Regarding claims 21-22, Yasukawa as recited above teaches a glyceride mixture for use in oil spray comprising tri-, di- and mono- glycerides but is silent regarding the free fatty acid content of the glyceride mixture. However, Yasukawa teaches a deodorization step, which would have necessarily reduced the content of free fatty acid from the glyceride mixture. Yasukawa further teaches that the glyceride mixture is derived from vegetable oil such as safflower oil, olive oil, rapeseed oil, corn oil, soybean oil , palm oil, etc. (page 2 bottom-page 3 top).
Peter teaches that fat and oil of biological origin comprises secondary products which adversely affect the keeping quality, odor, flavor and appearance of the fat or oil, and one of the most important secondary products is free fatty acid (column 1, line 38-43); Peter further teaches a method of removing free fatty acid from fat or oil comprising extracting the free fatty acid from the oil with a mixture of basic organic nitrogen compound and water followed by separation of the oil phase with water phase, in which free fatty acid is greatly removed (for example, palm oil comprising 4.5% or 5.5% free fatty acid after extraction will end up having 0.03% free fatty acid or less than 0.1% free fatty acid, respectively) (abstract; column 4, line 42-47; Example 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Yasukawa by subjecting the glyceride mixture of Yasukawa to free fatty acid removal process so as to remove the unwanted free fatty acid from the glyceride mixture. Reasonably modification of Yasukawa with Peter will result in a glyceride mixture the free fatty content of which is below 1% or 0.1% since Peter teaches that oil comprises as much as 5.5% free fatty acid will end up having less than 0.1% free fatty acid upon the acid removal step.
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasukawa as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Bhaggan US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0357882 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bhaggan).
Regarding claim 23, Yasukawa as recited above teaches a deodorized glyceride mixture comprising tri-, di- and mono- glycerides but is silent regarding the content of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters in the glyceride mixture.
Bhaggan teaches that vegetable oils sometimes contain impurities or contaminants that are introduced or generated in the oil itself during refining process, for example, epoxyproanol fatty acid esters (e.g., glycidyl fatty esters) are known contaminants that can be present in the refined oil (0002-0003). Bhaggan teaches a method of removing epoxyproanol fatty acid esters from vegetable oil comprising contacting the oil with an acid-activated bleaching earth before or concurrently with the step of deodorization at a temperature of less than 200 °C ( for example, 180 °C, Bhaggan teaches that lower deodorization temperature reduces the chances of reforming epoxyproanol fatty acid esters, see 0024 and 0052) (abstract; 0014; 0024; 0052), wherein 95-100% reduction of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters can be achieved by the removal treatment (0049). In one example, Bhaggan teaches that epoxyproanol fatty acid ester level of less than 100 ppb (e.g., 0.1 ppm) upon treatment (0051-0052).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Yasukawa by including the step of removing epoxyproanol fatty acid esters from the glyceride mixture through contacting the oil with an acid-activated bleaching earth before or at the same time as the step of deodorizing and performing deodorization at a temperature of less than 200 °C. Doing so would have eliminated or greatly reduced the content of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters in the glyceride mixture of Yasukawa, should such a contaminant be present in the glyceride mixture.
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasukawa JPH0746968B2 (English translation and original document relied upon for reference, hereinafter referred to as Yasukawa) in view of Peter US Patent No. 6,579,996 B2 (hereinafter referred to as Peter).
Regarding claim 24, Yasukawa teaches a glyceride mixture comprising 0-10 wt % monoglyceride, 5-65 wt% diglyceride and the rest being triglyceride for making oil spray when combined with ethanol (Abstract). Further, Yasukawa teaches adding 0.2-5 wt% phospholipid to the glyceride mixture to improve storage stability and spattering property (Abstract). Therefore, Yasukawa teaches a monoglyceride, diglyceride and triglyceride amounts that overlap with the ranges of each glycerides as recited in the claim (for example, when the glyceride mixture comprises 5% monoglyceride, 40% diglyceride and 1% phospholipids, then the amount of triglyceride is 100% - 5% - 40% -1% = 54%). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. (MPEP 2144.05 I).
Regarding the limitation about the glyceride mixture being “deodorized”, Yasukawa includes an embodiment teaching a glyceride mixture obtained from subjecting soybean oil to transesterification in the presence of glycerol and a catalyst followed by deodorization, in which the glyceride mixture comprises 63% triglyceride (e.g., TG), 35% diglyceride (e.g., DG) and 2% monoglyceride (e.g., MG) (see example 1 on page 3, and Table 1 of the original document). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have deodorized the glyceride mixture so as to remove odoriferous compounds in the glyceride mixture thus improving the quality of the glyceride mixture.
Yasukawa is silent regarding the free fatty acid content of the glyceride mixture. However, Yasukawa teaches a deodorization step, which would have necessarily reduced the content of free fatty acid from the glyceride mixture. Yasukawa further teaches that the glyceride mixture is derived from vegetable oil such as safflower oil, olive oil, rapeseed oil, corn oil, soybean oil , palm oil, etc. (page 2 bottom-page 3 top).
Peter teaches that fat and oil of biological origin comprises secondary products which adversely affect the keeping quality, odor, flavor and appearance, and one of the most important such a secondary product is free fatty acid (column 1, line 38-43); Peter further teaches a method of removing free fatty acid from fat or oil comprising extracting the free fatty acid with a mixture of basic organic nitrogen compound and water followed by separation of the oil phase with water phase, in which free fatty acid is greatly removed (for example, palm oil comprising 4.5% or 5.5% free fatty acid after extraction will end up having 0.03% free fatty acid or less than 0.1% free fatty acid) (abstract; column 4, line 42-47; Example 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Yasukawa by subjecting the glyceride mixture of Yasukawa to free fatty acid removal process so as to remove the unwanted free fatty acid from the glyceride mixture. Reasonably modification of Yasukawa with Peter will result in a glyceride mixture the free fatty content of which is below 1% or 0.1% since Peter teaches that oil comprises as much as 5.5% free fatty acid will end up having less than 0.1% free fatty acid upon the acid removal step.
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yasukawa in view of Peter as applied to claim 24 above, and further in view of Bhaggan US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0357882 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bhaggan).
Regarding claim 24, Yasukawa in view of Peter as recited above teaches a deodorized glyceride mixture comprising tri-, di- and mono- glycerides but is silent regarding the content of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters in the glyceride mixture.
Bhaggan teaches that vegetable oils sometimes contain impurities or contaminants that are introduced or generated in the oil itself during refining process, for example, epoxyproanol fatty acid esters (e.g., glycidyl fatty esters) are known contaminants present in the refined oil (0002-0003). Bhaggan teaches a method of removing epoxyproanol fatty acid esters from vegetable oil comprising contacting the oil with an acid-activated bleaching earth before or concurrently with the step of deodorizing at a temperature of less than 200 °C ( for example, 180 °C, Bhaggan teaches that lower deodorization temperature reduces the chances of reforming epoxyproanol fatty acid esters, see 0024 and 0052) (abstract; 0014; 0024; 0052), wherein 95-100% reduction of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters can be achieved by the removal treatment (0049). In one example, Bhaggan teaches that epoxyproanol fatty acid ester level of less than 100 ppb (e.g., 0.1 ppm) upon treatment (0051-0052).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Yasukawa by including the step of removing epoxyproanol fatty acid esters from the glyceride mixture through contacting the oil with an acid-activated bleaching earth before or at the same time as the step of deodorizing and performing deodorization at a temperature of less than 200 °C. Doing so would have eliminated or greatly reduced the content of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters in the glyceride mixture of Yasukawa, should such a contaminant be present in the glyceride mixture
Claims 16-22 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koike US Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0142089 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Koike).
Regarding claims 16-22 and 24, Koike teaches an oil composition comprising 0.1-59.8 wt% a triglyceride (0008), 40-99.7 wt % (or preferably 50-95 wt%) a diglyceride (0008, 0014), 0.1-10 wt % (or preferably 0.1-5% a monoglyceride (0008; 0016), and at most 5% (for example, 0.1%) free fatty acid (0008; 0028). Further Koike teaches that the oil composition is obtained by transesterification of an oil such as fish oil or rapeseed oil in the presence of glycerol followed by ordinary purification treatment such as deodorization (0017; 0028).
The amounts of triglyceride, diglyceride, monoglyceride and free fatty acid as disclosed by Koike overlap with or encompass the ranges as recited in claim 16-22 and 24. In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. (MPEP 2144.05 I).
Claims 16-22 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koike US Patent No. 6,448,292 B2 (hereinafter referred to as Koike2).
Regarding claims 16-22 and 24, Koike2 teaches an oil composition comprising 40.1-89.8 wt% (or particularly 50-80%) a triglyceride (claim 1; column 3, line 39-41), 10-40 wt % (or particularly 15-35%) a diglyceride (claim 1; column 2, line 60-63), 0.1-10 wt % (or preferably 0.1-5% a monoglyceride (claim 3; column 3, line 53-55 ), and at most 0.5% free fatty acid (column 3, line 56-69). Further Koike2 teaches that the oil composition is obtained by transesterification of an oil such as fish oil, or rapeseed oil in the presence of glycerol followed by ordinary purification treatment such as deodorization (column 2, line 52-55; Example 6).
The amounts of triglyceride, diglyceride, monoglyceride and free fatty acid as disclosed by Koike2 overlap with or encompass the ranges as recited in claim 16-22 and 24. In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. (MPEP 2144.05 I).
Claims 23 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koike or Koike2 as applied to claims 16 and 24 above, and further in view of Bhaggan US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0357882 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bhaggan).
Regarding claims 23 and 25, Koike or Koike2 as recited above teaches a deodorized oil composition comprising tri-, di- and mono- glycerides but is silent regarding the content of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters in the glyceride mixture.
Bhaggan teaches that vegetable oils sometimes contain impurities or contaminants that are introduced or generated in the oil itself during refining process, for example, epoxyproanol fatty acid esters (e.g., glycidyl fatty esters) are known contaminants that can be present in the refined oil (0002-0003). Bhaggan teaches a method of removing epoxyproanol fatty acid esters from vegetable oil comprising contacting the oil with an acid-activated bleaching earth before or concurrently with the step of deodorization at a temperature of less than 200 °C ( for example, 180 °C, Bhaggan teaches that lower deodorization temperature reduces the chances of reforming epoxyproanol fatty acid esters, see 0024 and 0052) (abstract; 0014; 0024; 0052), wherein 95-100% reduction of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters can be achieved by the removal treatment (0049). In one example, Bhaggan teaches that epoxyproanol fatty acid ester level of less than 100 ppb (e.g., 0.1 ppm) upon treatment (0051-0052).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Koike or Koike2 by including the step of contacting the oil composition of Koike or Koike2 with an acid-activated bleaching earth before or at the same time as the step of deodorizing and performing deodorization at a temperature of less than 200 °C. Doing so would have eliminated or greatly reduced the content of epoxyproanol fatty acid esters in the oil composition of Koike or Kolike2, should such a contaminant be present in the oil composition of Koike or Koike2.
Conclusion
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/CHANGQING LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1791