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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida et al. (U.S. Patent 5,153,067). Yoshida et al., hereafter “Yoshida,” show that it is known to have a flexible material based on finished leathers and fabrics (Abstract; Column 1, lines 16-22) comprising rubber powder (Column 5, lines 45-48; Column 6, lines 18-49: “waste” is broadly construed to include any available rubber that has been previously produced; particle~powder), polyester nano-powder (Column 5, lies 41-42; Column 6, lines 18-49: “waste” is broadly construed to include any available rubber that has been previously produced; particle~powder); leather powder (Column 5, lines 22-40; “waste” is broadly construed to include any available rubber that has been previously produced; particle~powder), and a curing agent (Column 6, lines 23-28: it is interpreted that a rubber curing agent would be used since there is rubber within the compound). Yoshida does not specifically disclose the claimed quantities of each component, however he does disclose various potential amounts (Column 5, lines 39-33). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use any appropriate amount of each component, such as the quantities claimed, because where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed by the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation (MPEP 2144.05 (II)(A)).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-19 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MONICA HUSON whose telephone number is (571)272-1198. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8a-4p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christina Johnson can be reached at 571-272-1176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MONICA ANNE HUSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1742
/MONICA A HUSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1742
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