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 .
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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shim (KR101149833) in view of Xu et al. (CN112048162).
Regarding claims 1-5, Shim teaches a method for producing a marine material and a marine material (including a twisted yarn) comprising forming a constituent element wherein the constituent element comprises a resin consisting essentially of polylactic acid and polybutylene adipate terephthalate with the weight ratio of polylactic acid to polybutylene adipate terephthalate in the resin forming the constituent element being in the claimed range as 3-80% PLA and 70-20% PBAT [0011-0037]. Shim is silent regarding the claimed end capping agent. However, Xu et al. teach using an end-capping agent (terminator) in a polyester composition comprising PLA and PBAT in order to seal the polymer, preventing the polymer from being over-chained, causing the molecular weight distribution to become wider or cross-linked, thereby improving the uniformity of the polymer molecular chain and making the material performance more stable. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the end capping agent of Xu et al. in Shim in order to seal the polymer, preventing the polymer from being over-chained, causing the molecular weight distribution to become wider or cross-linked, thereby improving the uniformity of the polymer molecular chain and making the material performance more stable and arrive at the claimed invention.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/Shawn Mckinnon/Examiner, Art Unit 1789