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
Applicant’s election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-9, 16 and 20-22 in the reply filed on April 13, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 10, 1-15, 24-25 and 29 have been withdrawn as directed to non-elected invention.
While Applicants elected Group I with traverse, Applicants have presented no arguments. Therefore, the requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed September 23, 2023 has been received and made of record. Note the acknowledged form PTO-1449 enclosed herewith.
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.
Claim 16 is 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.
Regarding claim 16, the claim recites the limitations “a fluid absorbency of about 14 g/g or more”, “a dry tensile strength of about 15 N or more”, “a wet tensile strength of about 1 N or more”, and “a fluid retention capacity of about 40% or more”. Without an upper bound, the fluid absorbency, dry tensile strength, wet tensile strength and fluid retention capacity can continue indefinitely, rendering the scope of the claim indefinite.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 and 20-22 are allowed.
Claim 16 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the closest prior art it that of CN 111304916 A and CN-111330065 to Zhu et al. Each reference to Zhu et al. discloses a chitosan wound dressing comprising a protonated chitosan, i.e., an acid salt of chitosan as a core of a fiber and a sodium hyaluronate shell formed on the core fiber.
Instant claim 1 differs from the references to Zhu et al. in that the instant invention comprises chitosan amide rather than sodium hyaluronate. While both sodium hyaluronate and chitosan amide are both polysaccharides used in wound treatment, they have different charges and perform differently at the wound site. Therefore, modifying the references of Zhu et al. to include a chitosan amide as the shell material would prevent the fibers from performing as intended.
Claims 2-9 and 20-22 which depend from claim 1 are necessarily allowable by virtue of their dependence on claim 1.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIM M LEWIS whose telephone number is (571)272-4796. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 5:30 am -11:30 am.
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, Alireza Nia can be reached at (571)270-3076. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIM M LEWIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3786
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