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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-2, and 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kong et al. (US 2023/0143086 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kong et al. teach a solid catalyst comprising magnesium, titanium, halide, dialkylurea such as N, N, N’, N’-tetramethylurea ([0010]-[0011]), internal electron donor of 1,3-diether([0015]), di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP) (Table 1), alkyltrialkoxysilane such as isobutyltriethoxysilane ([0022]), (Abstract, Tables 1 and 3, [0033], and [0038]-[0039]).
Iso-butyltriethoxysilane taught by Kong et al. corresponds to the instant claimed Formula (I), wherein R as being iso-butyl, R1 as being ethyl group.
N, N, N’, N’-tetramethylurea taught by Kong et al. corresponds to the claimed Formula (II), wherein R2-5 as being methyl groups.
Regarding claim 2, as discussed above, Kong et al. teach iso-butyltriethoxysilane as the instant claim ([0022]).
Regarding claims 4-5, as discussed above, Kong et al. teach N, N, N’, N’-tetramethylurea as the instant claims ([0012]).
Regarding claims 6-7, as discussed above, Kong et al. teach di-iso-butyl-phthalate as the instant claims ([0012]).
Regarding claims 8-9, as discussed above, Kong et al. teach 2-isopropyl 2-isopentyl dimethoxy propane as the instant claims ([0033]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kong et al. as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 3, although Kong et al. does not specifically disclose the claimed compound of propyltriethoxysilane as per applicant claim 3, the embodiment disclosed by Kong et al. have overall appearances that are basically the same as the instant claim. They are all have the core structure of triethoxysilane and an alkyl group. The only structure difference between the claimed compound of propyltriethoxysilane and the iso-butyltriethoxysilane of Kong et al. is that the prior art compound has one additional CH2 group of the claimed compound.
The prior art compounds are true homologs of the claimed compounds, the similarity between the chemical structures and properties is sufficiently close that one on ordinary skill in the arts would have been motivated to make the claimed compounds in searching for new catalyst. Therefore, the invention as a whole would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made See MPEP 2144.09 I-III.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YUN QIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5834. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 10:00am-4:00pm.
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YUN . QIAN
Examiner
Art Unit 1732
/YUN QIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1738
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