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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Receipt is acknowledged of the Information Disclosure Statement filed on 12/28/2026 and 05/18/2026. The Examiner has considered the reference cited therein to the extent that each is a proper citation. Please see attached USPTO form.
Response to Amendments
Applicant’s arguments (see Remarks, page 4-6) have fully been considered.
The rejection of claims 1-3 under 35. U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Man (US20170335252A1) in view of Linder (US20200255767A1) is withdrawn because Applicant’s arguments have been found persuasive.
Claims 1-4 are pending. Claim 4 is currently amended and withdrawn from consideration.
Upon further consideration, new ground of rejection not relying on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record are made below:
NEW GROUNDS OF REJECTION
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: failing to include units of the molecular weight in line 10. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmidt et. al (WO2012028203A1) hereinafter Schmidt.
Schmidt teaches liquid alkaline cleaning composition with enhanced cleaning activity comprising a chelant, a carboxylate, a sequestering agent, a liquid conditioner polymer, and a solvent (see Abstract). With regards to claim 1, Schmidt teaches the use of low alkoxylated alcohols, particularly branched alcohols with C8-C18 alkyl groups and 1-4 EO/PO groups (see Nonionic Surfactants page 22). The nonionic surfactant can be present in the composition from 1-30 wt% (see page 25). The use of solvents such as ethanol, methanol, propanol, and other aliphatic alcohols are taught (see claim 8). The solvent is added to make up 100 wt% (see page 10). Ethanol, methanol, and propanol are known in the art to have less than 6 carbon atoms. Methanol is cited in the instant Specification as preferred component and taught to have a molecular weight of 32 in Table 2 (see [0040]). A person of ordinary skill would reasonably expect the amount of alcohol solvent to overlap with the range recited in the instant claim. The pH of the alkaline ready to use composition can be between 13-14 (see claim 16).
Although Schmidt does not explicitly disclose the low alkoxylated alcohol and the aliphatic alcohol solvent in the appropriate weight ranges in a single embodiment to the point of anticipation, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine these limitations into a single embodiment. This combination would have produced the added benefit of improved cleaning effect without corroding the sensitive exposed surfaces (see page 2).
With regards to claims 2-3, Schmidt teaches the use of a corrosion inhibitor such as benzotriazole and 1,2,3-benzotriazole (see page 17). The corrosion inhibitor can comprise 0.03-8 wt% of the composition (see claim 18).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHREYA PAUL whose telephone number is (571)272-1551. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:30am-5:00pm.
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/SP/ Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1761
/BRIAN P MRUK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
