Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/642,109

FIBER REINFORCED POLYPROPYLENE COMPOSITE

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Apr 22, 2024
Priority
Oct 17, 2016 — EU 16194183.6 +2 more
Examiner
CAI, WENWEN
Art Unit
1763
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
Borealis AG
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
60%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
80%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 60% of resolved cases
60%
Career Allowance Rate
519 granted / 867 resolved
-5.1% vs TC avg
Strong +20% interview lift
Without
With
+19.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 2m
Avg Prosecution
71 currently pending
Career history
935
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.3%
-39.7% vs TC avg
§103
73.2%
+33.2% vs TC avg
§102
7.3%
-32.7% vs TC avg
§112
8.5%
-31.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 867 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
DETAILED ACTION The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Election/Restrictions Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 12-14, 17-25 in the reply filed on 6/22/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1-10, 15-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/22/2026. Specification Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure. The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words. It is important that the abstract not exceed 150 words in length since the space provided for the abstract on the computer tape used by the printer is limited. The form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as "means" and "said," should be avoided. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details. The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, "The disclosure concerns," "The disclosure defined by this invention," "The disclosure describes," etc. The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it contains less than 50 words. Correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (B) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. Claim 14 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Claim 14 recites “impregnating and coating can be carried out with the same or different polypropylene base material”. However, impregnating reads on coating. Does the limitation involve two steps? If so, does the order matter? How does “the same or different polypropylene base material” relate to the PBM of step a? If it is different from PBM of step a, then the claim does not further limit claim 12. For purposes of expediting prosecution, the claim is interpreted as “the process according to claim 12, wherein process step e) comprises impregnating and coating the polymer based fiber of step c) with the polypropylene base material of step a). ” 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. Claim(s) 12-14, 17-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kitade (JP2010121108). In setting forth this rejection a machine translation of JP2010121108 has been relied upon and all citations to paragraph numbers in the discussion below are with respect to the machine translation. Claims 12-13, 17-19, 22, 24-25: Kitade teaches a process for making a composite, the composite comprising 70wt% of a propylene homopolymer with MFR of 100g/10min, 10 wt% of PET fiber with a melting temperature of 264°C and 20wt% of short glass fiber [example 4, 0063, 0057]. The short glass fiber is provided in chopped form that is blended with the propylene homopolymer [0063]. The polar resin reads on an adhesion promotor [0030]. The process comprising melt blending glass fiber and PP, forming PET long fiber reinforced PP using pultrusion molding method, blending the glass fiber reinforced PP with PET fiber reinforced PP, injection molding the blend [0063, 0057, 0018, 0053]. Claim 14: it is noted that the claim does not distinguish impregnating and coating, and impregnating reads on coating. Therefore, forming PET long fiber reinforced PP using pultrusion molding method reads on the claim limitation. Claim 20-21: short glass fiber has a diameter of 17um and comprises a sizing agent. Claim 23: the PET fiber has a length of 8mm and diameter of 25um. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WENWEN CAI whose telephone number is (571)270-3590. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9am-6pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Del Sole can be reached on (571)272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /WENWEN CAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 22, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 02, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
60%
Grant Probability
80%
With Interview (+19.8%)
3y 2m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 867 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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