DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1, 3, 5, and 6 in the reply filed on 8/24/2026 is acknowledged.
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)(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.
Claims 1, 3, 5, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Deforel (US 2021/0329964).
Regarding claim 1, Deforel teaches material for a flavor inhalation article, the material being a material formed by mixing tobacco (a cellulosic base material) with nicotine [0026, 0103], wherein the material for a flavor inhalation article is a tobacco sheet for a non-combustion heating-type flavor inhalation article [0008, 0105], and the tobacco sheet has a plurality of parallel corrugations (cross section of the tobacco sheet in a thickness direction thereof has a corrugated shape) [0053, 0057].
Regarding claim 3, Deforel teaches the tobacco sheet further comprises an aerosol former (aerosol-source material) [0039].
Regarding claim 5, Deforel teaches non-combustion heating-type flavor inhalation article comprising a tobacco-containing segment that comprises the material for a flavor inhalation article according to claim 1 [0031, 0058].
Regarding claim 6, Deforel teaches non-combustion heating-type flavor inhalation system comprising: the non-combustion heating-type flavor inhalation article according to claim 5; and a heating device that heats the tobacco-containing segment [0095].
Conclusion
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/ERIC YAARY/Examiner, Art Unit 1755
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