DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed August 4, 2026. Applicant has amended claims 1, 2 and 5. Claims 7-20 remain withdrawn from consideration. Currently, claims 1-20 remain pending in the application.
The text of those sections of Title 35 U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in the prior Office action, Paper No. 20260526.
The rejection of claims 1-6 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Yi et al, WO 2019/156364, is withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendments and remarks.
The rejection of claims 1-6 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Kim, KR 2018-0093783, is withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendments and remarks.
The rejection of claims 1-6 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Ogino et al, WO 2021/100651, is withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendments and remarks.
NEW GROUNDS OF REJECTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Jiang et al, WO 2018/058866.
Jiang et al, WO 2018/058866, discloses solvents for cleaning photoresists (see abstract). It is further taught by Jiang et al that a preferred solvent includes N-ethyl propionamide (i.e., N-ethyl propanamide CAS No. 5129-72-6; see paragraph 19), per the requirements of the instant invention. The examiner asserts that the compound N-ethyl propionamide disclosed in Jiang et al, WO 2018/058866, would inherently meet the surface tension, boiling point, Hansen solubility parameter distance, dispersion power term, polarity term, and hydrogen bonding force term requirements of the instant invention, since products of identical chemical composition cannot have mutually exclusive properties, and Table 1 of the instant specification discloses that this compound meets these requirements. Therefore, instant claims 1-6 are clearly anticipated by Jiang et al, WO 2018/058866.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-6 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN P MRUK whose telephone number is (571)272-1321. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:00am-5:30pm Monday-Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew, can be reached on 571-272-2817. 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.
/BRIAN P MRUK/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
Brian P Mruk
September 29, 2026
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