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.
3. Claims 1-12 are pending as amended on 06/16/26.
4. Any rejections and/or objections made in the previous Office action and not repeated below are hereby withdrawn.
5. The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Priority
6. This application is a CON of PCT/JP2022/014884 03/28/2022.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application JAPAN 2021-056873 03/30/2021 filed on 10/20/23.
Information Disclosure Statement
7. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/15/26 was filed after the mailing date of the non-final Office action on 03/18/26. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
8. Applicant's amendment filed on 06/16/26, has been fully considered and entered.
Response to Arguments
9. Applicant's arguments with respect to rejection of claims 1-12 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Otonari (US 2016/0194428) filed on 06/16/26, have been fully considered but are not persuasive. Applicants arguments are related to the alkali metal and its amount. This is respectfully considered but are not persuasive. Even though, applicants defend the composition of the claimed limitation based on the its method of preparation in their specification, the composition limitation does not depends on its method of preparation. Claim 1 require 100 ppm by mass or more of alkali metal atom, applicants specification defined the alkali metal atom introduced in the form of alkali metal salt (para [0165]). Otonari expressly discloses a thermoplastic resin composition containing 0.1 parts by mass to 12 parts by mass of the graft copolymer containing rubber, and 0.01 parts by mass to 10 parts by mass of the flame retardant, and specifically to flame retardant such as alkali metal atom such as sodium or potassium contained in the range of 0.01 to 2 parts by mass (read on 100 ppm by mass or more of alkali metal atom) based on 100 parts by mass of the thermoplastic resin (para [0023], [0027, [0031], [0194]-[0195]). Accordingly, previous rejections have been maintained.
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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Otonari (US 2016/0194428).
Regarding claims 1-3, 5-6, 9, 11-12, Otonari discloses a molded product comprising a thermoplastic resin composition containing 0.1 parts by mass to 12 parts by mass of the graft copolymer containing rubber, and 0.01 parts by mass to 10 parts by mass of the flame retardant, and specifically to flame retardant such as alkali metal atom such as sodium or potassium contained in the range of 0.01 to 2 parts by mass such as alkali metal atom such as sodium or potassium (read on 100 ppm by mass or more of alkali metal atom) based on 100 parts by mass of the thermoplastic resin, wherein the graft copolymer containing rubber is a graft copolymer containing rubber formed by performing graft polymerization on a composite rubber containing a polyorganosiloxane and a polyalkyl(meth)acrylate and one or more vinyl monomers such as (meth)acrylate , e.g. methyl (meth)acrylate, ethyl (meth) acrylate, butyl (meth)acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl (meth)acrylate, phenyl (meth)acrylate, or benzyl (meth)acrylate, wherein mass average particle diameter Dw is 400 to 1000 nm (para [0023], [0027], [0031], [0035], [0055], [0155], [0194]-[0195]), fall into claimed range of 350 nm or more and 1000 nm or less, meeting the requirements of claims 1-3, 5-6, 9, 11-12.
Regarding claim 4, Otonari discloses the graft part is 10 mass% (para [0023]), fall into claimed range of 5 to 20 mass%.
Regarding claim 7, Otonari discloses the polyorganosiloxane containing siloxane-based crosslinking agent in amount of 0 to 1.8 mass % (para [0044]), fall into claimed range of 3 mass% or less.
Regarding claim 8, Otonari discloses polyorganosiloxane in the graft copolymer is 70 to 98 mass% (para [0027]; read on claimed range).
Regarding claim 10, Otonari discloses the polyorganosiloxane containing polymer is in a powder state (para [0052]).
Conclusion
Reference Cheil Industries (JP 2009-127052) was cumulative in nature to the above rejection and thus not set forth.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 KUMAR R BHUSHAN whose telephone number is (313)446-4807. The examiner can normally be reached 9.00 AM to 5.50 PM (EST).
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, RANDY P GULAKOWSKI can be reached at (571)272-1302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KUMAR R BHUSHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
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