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 .
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
Claims 1, 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 2,683,450 with Worsman.
EP teaches a fire fighting foam comprising water, a gum, one or more nonionic surfactants, one or more organic solvents and is free of substantially free of fluorinated surfactants (see para 0001, 0002, 0008). The foam may contain anionic and amphoteric surfactants such as sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium lauryl ether sulfate, sulfonates, etc. and betaines and sulfobetaines (see para 0009 and 0011).
The foam may contain 5-12 wt% of nonionic surfactant such as polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers (see para 0010) and alkylglycosides and polyglycosides (see para 0010).
The solvents include glycol ethers (see para 0012). EP teaches that the composition may be used as a concentrate (para 0015). EP meets the limitations of the claims other than the proportions for the concentrate. EP teaches that the amount of the surfactants can vary widely depending on the type of surfactants used. Therefore, a prima facie case of obviousness exists because it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to optimize the proportions of the surfactants through routine experimentation for the best results. As to optimization of results, a patent will not be granted based upon the optimization of result effective variables when the optimization is obtained through routine experimentation unless there is a showing of unexpected results which properly rebuts the prima facie case of obviousness. See In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 276, 205 USPQ 215, 219 (CCPA 1980). See also In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 1578, 16 USPQ2d 1934, 1936-37 (Fed. Cir. 1990), and In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
EP does not specifically teach the HLB of the non-ionic surfactants. However, Worsman teaches this difference.
Worsman teaches fire extinguishing or fire suppressing compositions (see abstract). Worsman teaches using nonionic surfactants such as polyoxyethylene ether or higher saturated fatty alcohols having an HLB value of about 15-17 (see para 0114). Thus, Worsman provides the motivation to used nonionic surfactants having HLB of 15 or more because those same surfactants are set forth by EP.
Claims 1-4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 2,683,450 in view of Worsman (US 20200094093) further in view of Llenado (US 4,536,317).
EP and Worsman have been discussed above. The prior art fails to teach that the nonionic surfactants, polyglycosides, have an HLB of 15 or more or 18 or greater. However, Llenado teaches this difference.
Llenado teaches a foaming surfactant composition that may be used in fire fighting (see col. 1, lines 10-15). Llenado uses non-ionic alkylpolysaccharide (alkylpolyglycosides) and anionic surfactants (see col. 1, line 35 through col. 2, lines 1-14). The alkylpolyglycosides have an HLB of from about 6 to about 27 (see Example XV).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have selected glycosides having an HLB or 15 or greater because Llenado teaches that such compounds in combination with anionic surfactant provide a relatively stable foam which is readily rinsed ( see col. 2, lines 15-18).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CEPHIA D TOOMER whose telephone number is (571)272-1126. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Prem Singh can be reached at 571-272-6368. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CEPHIA D TOOMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771 18592007/20260609
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