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 .
Priority
It is noted that the instant application is a CIP of PCT/US23/33096.
The following claims do not find support in provisional application 63/408,349: Claim 17, Claim 21 and Claim 22.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 15-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by WO 2022/264838 (herein Kawasaki).
Note that since claims 17 and 21-22 do not have support by the foreign priority, they are rejected under both 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2), while claims 1-8, 15-16 and 19 are rejected under 102(a)(2).
In setting forth the instant rejection, the English translation of the WO document filed 12/27/24 is relied upon.
As to claims 1-8, Kawasaki discloses a curable (crosslinkable) fluoroelastomer composition (see abstract and examples) comprising
A polyhydroxy curable fluoroelastomer (polyol-crosslinkable fluoroelastomer, see paragraph 17, 20-29 and examples).
A curing agent, specifically
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146
192
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, wherein X1 is perfluoroalkyl of 1 to 5 carbons (C1-5 alkyl fully fluorinated), fluoroalkyl of 1 to 5 carbons (C1-5 alkyl partially fluorinated), perfluoroalkoxy of 1 to 5 carbons (C1-5 alkoxy fully fluorinated), fluoroalkoxy of 1 to 5 carbons (C1-5 alkoxy partially fluorinated) or fluorine. See paragraph 43, all the above cited reading on the groups of the Markush group. Specifically, see the examples, wherein the compound is 5-fluororesorcinol (paragraph 244) reading on claimed formula 1, wherein R1=R5=R3=H, R2=OH and R4=F. Also see 4-fluororesorcinol that also reads on the instant claims.
An acid acceptor. See paragraph 63-37.
Again, see examples 1-6, which read on the instant claims.
As to claim 15, the curing agent is utilized in e.g. 0.8 parts per 100 parts fluoroelastomer in the examples.
As to claim 16, the fluoroelastomer is exemplified as a copolymer of vinylidene fluoride and hexafluoropropylene.
As to claim 17, the fluoroelastomer is a terpolymer tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), hexafluoropropylene (HFP) and vinylidene fluoride (VdF). See paragraph 26 and 38-40.
As to claim 18, the acid acceptor is calcium hydroxide. See paragraph 68-71 and examples.
As to claim 19, the composition does not require 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)hexafluoropropane additive, and therefore is free of it. See examples that do not contain any.
As to claim 20, the composition comprises a crosslinking (curing) accelerator. See paragraph 62-66 and examples.
As to claim 21, the curing accelerator is in the form of a pre-reacted salt with a portion of the curing agent. See paragraph 58-62 and examples.
As to claim 22, see table 1, for example, example 1 utilizes 0.6 parts of crosslinking accelerator B (molecular weight of 388) and 0.8 parts of crosslinking agent A (molecular weight 128). Converting to moles, this equates to be 0.0015 accelerator and 0.006 agent, which is a fourfold (6/1.5=4) molar excess.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Note that claims 12 and 13 are interpreted as requiring X, since n is 0 and Y is O. The prior art is silent to wherein X is present as claimed in compositions for curing fluoroelastomers.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK S KAUCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-7340. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-6 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arrie Lanee Reuther can be reached at (571) 270-7026. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK S KAUCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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