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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-2, in the reply filed on 18 June 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 3-8 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 18 June 2026.
Information Disclosure Statements
The Information Disclosure Statements filed on 2 October 2025, 15 June 2026, and 8 December 2023 have been received and considered by the Examiner.
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 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Omori et al. (JP H0967125 A; foreign patent document #1 on the IDS filed 2 October 2025). The provided English machine translation of Omori (JP H0967125 A) is relied upon in the analysis below.
Regarding claim 1, Omori discloses a composition of titanium oxide particles (Example 1; [0013]-[0014]) wherein an average agglomerated particle diameter is 60 nm (average particle diameter (number mean diameter) was … found to be 0.06 μm) and the content of an amorphous component is less than 1% (99% or more crystalline titanium oxide). Figure 1, copied below, shows the particles to be agglomerates.
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660
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Regarding claim 2, Omori discloses the titanium oxide particles of claim 1, and further discloses that these particles have BET specific surface area of 120 m2/g ([0014]), which falls in the instantly claimed range of 100 m2/g or more to 400 m2/g or less.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nicholas A Piro whose telephone number is (571)272-6344. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 8:00 am-5:00 pm.
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/NICHOLAS A. PIRO/Assistant Examiner, Art Unit 1738
/PAUL A WARTALOWICZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1735
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