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 without traverse of Group I, claims 1-9 and 16 in the reply filed on 07/06/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 10-13, 15, and 17-21 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 07/06/2026.
Certified copies of the foreign priority documents were filed on 12/09/2023.
A Preliminary amendment was also filed on 12/09/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
Information disclosure statements were filed on 12/09/2023 and 05/22/2026.
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) 1-9 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 107237134 A (Tianjin Polytechnic).
Tianjin Polytechnic discloses membranes by combining dopamine, catechol, dihydroxyphenylacetic acid or caffeic acid with ethylenepentamine, diethylenetriamine, dodecanediamine, triethylenetetratmine or tetraethylenepentamine with stirring in the presence of a non-woven fabric , then isolating the membrane formed (see Abstract and Examples). The process of making the product differs in that membrane of Tianjin Polytechnic the film is redispersed or dissolved in the presence of a non-woven fabric and then isolated. While the additional step is present, it appears to produce the same product. The additional step of the process of instant claim 1 is therefore viewed as an obvious modification of a known method of making a catecholamine membrane . There are no unusual and/or unexpected results which would rebut prima facie obviousness. The instantly claimed method would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing given the teachings of Tianjin Polytechnic.
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
Correspondence
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/CARLOS A AZPURU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1617 caz
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