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/Restriction
Applicant’s election, without traverse, of Group I (claims 1-23) in the reply filed on June 4, 2026 to the restriction requirement dated May 6, 2026, is hereby acknowledged.
Accordingly, claims 1-23 have been examined in the instant Office action, whereas claims 24-30 have been withdrawn from consideration as drawn to a nonelected invention but remain pending with the present application.
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 1-11 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(1) as anticipated by Sumerlin (“Precision Control of Temperature Response by Copolymerization of Di(Ethylene Glycol) Acrylate and an Acrylamide Comonomer”, Priyadarsi De and Brent S. Sumerlin Macromol. Chem. Phys. 214, pages 272-279 published 2013). This article has been submitted by Applicant together with the International Search Report dated March 20, 2025.
Sumerlin discloses a process for preparing block copolymer compounds that possess enhanced thermos-responsive behavior, wherein the block copolymers are prepared from copolymers of di(ethylene glycol) ethyl ether acrylate (DEGA) and N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMA) that are copolymerized with various comonomer feed ratios by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization (abstract; pages 272-273 of Sumerlin). The block copolymers of DEGA can also be prepared by chain extension of poly(DEGA) homopolymers with DMA, wherein the resulting block copolymers formed well-defined polymeric micelles when heated above the cloud point of the poly(DEGA) block and thus, a convenient route to thermos-responsive polymers with specific and predictable transition temperatures (suitable for hydrate inhibition) (abstract; pages 272-273 of Sumerlin).
In Scheme 1 on page 274, Sumerlin discloses a RAFT homo-polymerization of DEGA and the block co-polymerization of DEGA with an acrylamide compound that is dimethylacrylamide (DMA), wherein the initiator was AIBN (2,2’-azobis(isobutyronitrile)) (pages 273-274 of Sumerlin; X is Nitrogen in Formula I). Sumerlin further discloses studies regarding the thermos-responsive behavior of these copolymers containing DEGA and RAFT co-polymerizations of DEGA and DMA that were conducted using AIBN and another initiator, wherein Table 2 depicts results that show the enhanced thermo-responsive behavior for the copolymer composition containing DEGA (pages 276-278; Table 2; Figures 6A and 6B). The molecular weights of the DEGA/DMA co-polymerized compounds are 6300 to 11,600 g/mol (Table 2)
Thus, the instant claims are unpatentable over Sumerlin.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 17-23 are allowed.
Claims 12 is objected to as dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Sumerlin does not disclose its co-polymer composition having a molecular weight within the range of 500 to 5,000 g/mol as recited in present dependent claim 12.
Nor does Sumerlin teach or suggest its thermos-responsive co-polymerized compound composition formed from DEGA and N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM). Sumerlin discusses poly-NIPAM in the introduction on pages 272-273 but argues that the DEGA/DMA co-polymer composition provide a facile route to thermos-responsive polymers with specific transition temperatures in comparison to other monomers (page 273).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN J FIGUEROA whose telephone number is (571)272-8916. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 am -6:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JOSEPH DEL SOLE can be reached on 571-272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN J FIGUEROA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
August 18, 2026
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