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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1, 3, and 5 are pending and are subject to this Office Action. This is the first Office Action on the merits of the claims.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1, 3, and 5 in the reply filed on 5/19/2026 is acknowledged.
Response to Amendment
The Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s response filed on 5/19/2026 containing
amendments and remarks to the claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3, and 5 have been considered but are moot because the arguments are directed to references that have not been applied to in a rejection by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
The word “and” should come before the last clause in the claim. As such line 11 should instead say “atomization liquid composition; and the adsorption slow-release carrier does not comprise an”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jones (WO2021/078985).
Regarding claim 1, Jones discloses:
An electronic atomization liquid composition (liquid aerosol-forming substrate, page 5, third paragraph), comprising: an electronic liquid (nicotine formulation and aerosol-former solution, page 6, sixth paragraph), and an adsorption slow-release carrier in solid state (solid tobacco-derived material, page 6, sixth paragraph);
wherein the weight percent of the electronic liquid in the electronic atomization liquid composition is between 80% and 99.9% (as the weight of solid material is between 0.1% to 20%, page 11, fourth paragraph, and therefore the remainder is the electronic liquid) which falls within the claimed range of 10% and 99.9999%;
the weight percent of the adsorption slow-release carrier in the electronic atomization liquid composition is between 0.1 to 20% (page 11, fourth paragraph) which falls within the claimed range of 0.0001% and 90%;
the adsorption slow-release carrier is present in the electronic liquid (solid tobacco-derived material combined with a nicotine formulation, page 8, second paragraph);
the adsorption slow-release carrier comprises a bio-based adsorption slow-release carrier that comprises at least one of biological fibers and biological cells (tobacco, page 8, second paragraph);
at least one of essence, nicotine, and nicotine salt (flavouring component, page 9, last paragraph, which is considered to be an essence) is naturally pre-adsorbed in the bio-based adsorption slow-release carrier (as the aerosol former solution may comprise water, page 9, sixth paragraph, and water may be introduced as part of a flavouring component, page 9, last paragraph) before the adsorption slow-release carrier is mixed with the electronic liquid to form the electronic atomization liquid composition (the solid tobacco material is saturated with the aerosol former solution, page 16, last paragraph, and then combined with the nicotine liquid, page 17, first paragraph);
the adsorption slow-release carrier does not comprise an atomizing core (as the atomizing core may be considered to be the wick assembly 302, fig. 1(b), page 22, last paragraph, which is separate from the liquid aerosol-forming substrate).
Regarding claim 3, Jones discloses wherein the bio-based adsorption slow-release carrier comprises at least one of tobacco leaves and tobacco stems (page 17, sixth paragraph).
Regarding claim 5, Jones discloses wherein the electronic liquid comprises at least one of nicotine and nicotine salt (page 5, eighth paragraph).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nicole A Szumigalski whose telephone number is (703)756-1212. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 8:00 - 4:30 EST.
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/N.A.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1755 /PHILIP Y LOUIE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1755
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