Detailed Office Action
The communication dated 12/12/2025 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 10-25 are pending with claims 22-25 withdrawn from consideration
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I in the reply filed on 12/12/2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Applicant requests rejoinder upon allowability of the product claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17 and 18 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.
The prior art suggested adding additives to the connecting fibers to make them absorbent to NIR. However, the prior art does not suggest only making 5 to 40% or 15 to 30% of the fibers absorbent relative to the non-absorbent staple fibers.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the layer disposed on top of the staple fiber layer without connecting fibers (instant claim 21) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim. The layer must also be numbered and the number should be recited in the specification. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 10-16 and 19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-6 and 9-14 of U.S. Patent No. 12,286,753. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both claim at least a two-layer endless belt. The bottom layer has a loop and pintle connection. The top layer has elements which can be welded to both the seam flap and seam wedge of a top non-woven layer that has a cut.
Instant claim 10-13, 15, and 16 see copending claims 9, 11 and 14.
Instant claim 14 and 19 see copending claim 10.
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 10-16 and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2021/121789A EBERHARDT et al., hereinafter EBERHARDT.
The EBERHARDT is by another (as it has a second inventor ENGLET) and available under 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2). However, the 102(a)(2) type reference is overcome by a 102(b)(2)(C) exception as there is a common ownership of Voith Patent GMBH.
The publication date of EBERHARDT is 6/24/2021 which is less than 1 year before the foreign priority date of the instant application of 11/4/2021. However, there is no certified English translation of the 11/4/2021 foreign priority document. Therefore, 9/23/2022 the PCT filing date acts as the earliest effective filing date. This would result in an over 1-year difference between the publication and earliest effective filing date. Therefore, a 102(b)(1) exception is not available.
If the applicant files a certified translation of DE102021128660.3 (11/4/2021) the applicant can then make a showing for one of the 102(b)(1) exceptions.
The Examiner refers to U.S. 2023/0013706 as the English language equivalent.
As for claims 10-13, EBERHARDT discloses a clothing or seamed felt [abstract]. The clothing has a base structure (3) [Figure 4]. EBERHARDT discloses at least one staple fiber layer (8) disposed on the base structure (3) on a side facing the fibrous web [Figure 4].
EBERHARDT discloses a at least one seam zone (2) having seam loops (4) connected by at least one pintle (5) to make the clothing endless [Figure 4].
EBERHARDT discloses that the staple fiber layer (8) in the region of the seam zone (2) is divided by a cut (9) into a seam flap (10) and a seam wedge (11) [Figure 4].
EBERHARDT discloses the staple fiber layer (8) has a quantity of connecting fibers (20) in the region of the seam zone (6) both on the seam flap (10) and the seam wedge (11) [Figure 4]. The connecting fibers(20) are connected to the staple fibers by welded connections after cutting of the seam (9) [0073]. The connecting fibers of the seam flap are only connected to the seam flap staple fibers and the connecting fibers of the seam wedge are only connected to the staple fibers of the seam wedge. There are no welded connections between the staple fibers of said seam flap and staple fibers of the seam wedge [Figure 4].
EBERHARDT discloses 1 mm to 20 mm distributed longitudinally over the width of the clothing [0073].
As for claims 14 and 19, EBERHARDT discloses that the staple fibers can absorb in NIR and are used as the connecting element [0022]. EBERHARDT discloses additive absorbers [0026-0028]. EBERHARDT discloses polyamide [0023]
As for claims 15 and 16, there are no connecting fibers outside the seam zone [Figure 4, 0073]. EBERHARDT discloses a longitudinal distribution and discloses of a distribution throughout the whole staple fiber layer (8) [0073]
As for claim 21, EBERHARDT discloses absorbent fibers distributed over the entire fiber layer (8) of the paper side [0073].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY J CALANDRA whose telephone number is (571)270-5124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:45 AM -4:15 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abbas Rashid can be reached at (571)270-7457. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ANTHONY J. CALANDRA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1748
/Anthony Calandra/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748