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
Claim 16 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected method, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on September 16, 2025.
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-15 in the reply filed on September 16, 2025 is acknowledged.
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) 1-3, 5-6 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by 2013/003418 to Gouma.
Regarding Claims 1-3, and 5-11
Gouma teaches a wicking material (absorbent) comprising a first layer of electrospun cellulose acetate or polyvinylpyrrolidone fibers and a second layer of electrospun cellulose acetate or polyvinylpyrrolidone fibers (Gouma, abstract). Gouma teaches that this configuration may be exemplified by a layer of electrospun cellulose acetate nanofibers and a layer of electrospun PVP (Id., claims 28-34). Gouma teaches that the diameter of the fibers of each layer are between 1 and 1,000 nm (Id., page 9, lines 12-25). Gouma teaches that the composite may comprise structural and detection agents (sensing means) (Id., page 8, lines 19-23). Gouma teaches that the PVP layer may be porous and demonstrates a porous structure of the cellulose acetate layer comprising voids wherein both pore sizes appear to fall within the range of between 10 nm and 100 micrometers (Id., page 10, lines 16-22, fig. 1, fig. 5, fig. 6).
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) 4-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gouma as applied to claims 1-3 and 5-11 above.
Regarding Claim 4
As set forth above, Gouma teaches that the absorbent layer may comprise cellulose acetate fibers while the degradation mat comprises the polyvinylpyrrolidone fibers (Id.). Gouma does not appear to teach the exact ratio of cellulose acetate fibers to PVP fibers. However, it should be noted that the ratio of cellulose acetate fibers to PVP fibers is a result effective variable. As the relative proportion of cellulose acetate fibers increases, the material exhibits greater absorption at the detriment of ability to degrade organic pollutants. Absent unexpected results, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize the ratio of cellulose acetate fibers to PVP fibers since it has been held that where general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 105 USPQ 233 (CCPA 1955). In the present invention one would have been motivated to optimize the ratio of fibers in order to achieve the desired balance between absorption and degradation.
Claim(s) 12-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gouma in view of WO-2014/171891 to Marks.
Regarding Claims 12-15
Gouma does not appear to teach that the wicking material forms a biosensor comprising a lateral flow assay or the precise materials which form the detection agents. Marks teaches a biosensor comprising a lateral flow assay and wicking material of cellulose acetate fibers (sampling pad and wicking pad) (Marks, abstract, paragraphs [0003], [0008], [0038], [0040], [0053]). Marks teaches that the material comprises one or more detection agents sch as antibodies and/or nanomaterials (Id.). Marks teaches that the biosensor is able to analyze and detect bacteria, toxins and other pollutants in waste water (Id.). It would have been obvious to one o9f ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to form the wicking material of Gouma as an element of a biosensor comprising a lateral flow assay, as taught by Marks, and to include as the sensing means the detection agents taught by Marks, motivated by the desire to form a water treatment material with improved detection and analysis means.
Conclusion
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/VINCENT TATESURE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1786