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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 12/3/2025 is acknowledged. Claims 4-6 are withdrawn from further consideration as being drawn to a nonelected invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 20200050503 to Choi in view of USPAP 2021/0362542 to Bohn.
Claims 1-3, Choi discloses a nylon cord made by a substantially identical process to the method disclosed in the current specification. For example, Choi discloses a nylon 66 cord that may comprise residual copper in an amount of 50 to 80 ppm, melt-spinning the polymer at a temperature of 270 to 310ºC at a draft ratio of 20 to 200, setting the L/D value of the extruder screw to 2.0 to 6.0, passing the discharged through a cooling zone, optionally applying oil at 0.5 to 1.0%, multi-step drawing and winding through three or more Godet rollers with a total draw ratio of 4.5 to 6.5, wherein the first roller is room temperature and at a speed of 550 m/min or more, the second roller is room temperature to 90ºC, the third roller is 120 to 230ºC, the fourth roller is 180 to 250ºC and at a speed of 3,000 to 3,500 m/min, and the fifth roller is room temperature to 150ºC, wherein the total draw ratio between the first and fourth roller is 4.8 to 6.4, and wherein the relaxation rate between the fourth and fifth roller may be 3% or less (see entire translation document). Choi does not appear to mention twisting and plying two twisted cords together, dipping in a RFL solution, and then drying and heating to produce a dip cord but the examiner takes official notice that the disclosed dip cord process is well-known in the art. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to make a dip cord with the cord of Choi, as disclosed, motivated by a desire to construct a dip cord suitable for tire cord.
The current specification discloses that after conducting in-depth research, the inventors found that when the moisture content in the nylon cord is between 0.5 to 3.5% the elastic modulus is improved while maintaining the same level of tensile properties. Although Choi does not appear to mention moisture content, Bohn discloses that it is known in the tire art that the material properties of polyamide (nylon) change with moisture content wherein increased moisture lowers polyamide strength and stiffness and that a moisture content of no more than 1.5% is most desirable (see entire document including [0048] and [0049]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to construct the nylon cord of Choi with a controlled moisture content, such as 0.5 to 3.5% moisture content, to provide a cord with desirable strength and stiffness and/or because it is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that nylon moisture content determines properties such as strength and stiffness and because it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding the claimed properties, the Patent and Trademark Office can require applicants to prove that prior art products do not necessarily or inherently possess characteristics of claimed products where claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes; burden of proof is on applicants where rejection based on inherency under 35 U.S.C. § 102 or on prima facie obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103, jointly or alternatively, and Patent and Trademark Office’s inability to manufacture products or to obtain and compare prior art products evidences fairness of this rejection, In re Best, Bolton, and Shaw, 195 USPQ 431 (CCPA 1977).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW T PIZIALI whose telephone number is (571)272-1541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm.
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/ANDREW T PIZIALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789