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 . 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.
Priority
The instant application is a 371 of PCT/EP2022/070612 filed on 07/22/2022 and claims foreign priority to EP21187686.7 filed on 07/26/2021. The certified copy of the foreign priority application filed on 03/21/2024 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 03/21/2024, 04/09/2026, 04/23/2026, and 07/08/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Status of the Claims
The claims and remarks filed on 07/01/2026 are acknowledged. No claims are amended, cancelled, or new. Claims 1-21 are pending.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-9, 13-15, and 19-21) in the reply filed on 07/01/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 10-12 and 16-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Accordingly, claims 1-9, 13-15, and 19-21 are being examined on the merits herein.
Claim Interpretation
The term “partially” in claims 2 and 19 is being interpreted such that any degree of washing that is less than 100% meets the limitation of “partially” washed.
The limitation “wherein the crosslinking agent and a monolinking dyestuff are applied to the fibers” in claim 7 is being interpreted such that the crosslinking agent and monolinking dyestuff can be applied separately in any order or simultaneously to the fibers.
The limitation “wherein a monolinking dyestuff is applied to the fibers in combination with the crosslinking agent” in claim 8 is being interpreted such that the crosslinking agent and monolinking dyestuff are applied simultaneously to the fibers.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 4-5, 9, 13-15, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stigsson (WO2018169479A1 in IDS filed on 03/21/2024) in view of Hedlund et al. (US20190062950A1 in IDS filed 04/09/2026) and CN110172754A (in IDS filed 03/21/2024, an English translation is included in PTO-892 and used as the basis for this rejection).
Stigsson teaches forming a regenerated cellulosic fiber (Abstract).
Stigsson teaches the process involves providing a spinning dope comprising a solution of cellulose and an additive in an alkaline solvent in which dissolved cellulose is present at a concentration of from about 5 to 12 % by weight of the spinning dope and the additive is present in the range of from 0.1 - 10 % by weight calculated on the cellulose, injecting the cellulose spinning dope though a nozzle into an aqueous coagulation bath fluid having a pH value above 7, forming a regenerated cellulosic fiber composition; and stretching and washing the fiber composition in one or more washing and stretching baths (claims 1 and 9). Stigsson teaches that after additional optional fiber treatment steps such as bleaching, drying, and cutting, the regenerated cellulosic fiber is obtained as a staple fiber or filament yarn (first paragraph page 7).
Stigsson teaches the alkaline solvent can be sodium hydroxide (second to last paragraph page 4). Stigsson teaches the coagulation bath liquid can optionally include a dissolved salt (second paragraph page 6). Stigsson teaches the additive in the spinning dope can include water soluble synthetic polymers such as polyvinylalcohols and others (second to last paragraph page 8).
Stigsson teaches that the spinning dope can be exposed to a cross-linking agent in the coagulation and/or in the stretching or washing bath steps (claim 14). Stigsson teaches the cross-linking agent can be added in quantities ranging from 0.1-3% by weight of the cellulose (second paragraph page 9). Stigsson teaches the crosslinking agent can be urea formaldehyde, genipin, and others (second to last paragraph page 13).
Stigsson, however, does not teach an extruding step, the addition of zinc oxide into the spinning solution, and heating the fibers to a curing temperature while maintaining the never-dried condition to produce a reaction between the crosslinking agent and the cellulose fibers.
Hedlund teaches a process for forming cellulose fibers or film from dissolved cellulose (paragraph 0001 and claim 1). Hedlund teaches the process involves dissolving cellulose in an aqueous solution that contains sodium hydroxide, zinc oxide, and other ingredients to provide a cellulose spin dope (claims 1 and 8). Hedlund teaches the cellulose spin dope is extruded into a coagulation bath liquid comprising an aqueous coagulation sodium salt solution (claim 1).
CN’754 teaches a method of preparing antigen-fibrillated cellulose fibers (paragraph 0002). CN’754 teaches that their method provides an antigen-fibrillated cellulose fiber with good antigen fibrillation effect, high strength, and good durability (paragraph 0009).
CN’754 teaches that the method involves extruding, coagulating, stretching, and washing a cellulose fiber spinning solution through a spinneret to obtain washed filaments, then treating the washed filaments with a crosslinking agent aqueous solution before rinsing and drying to obtain antigen-fibrillated cellulose fibers (paragraph 0011). CN’754 teaches that the cellulose fiber is a regenerated cellulose fiber (paragraph 0019).
CN’754 teaches that the crosslinking agents include X and Z groups that can form a covalent or hydrogen bond with the hydroxyl group of the cellulose (paragraph 0013), which meets the limitation of a crosslinking agent having at least two reactive sites.
CN’754 teaches that the crosslinking agent aqueous solution is at 65-90 degree Celsius so that the microporous structure of the fiber surface can remain loose, which accelerates the speed at which the crosslinking agent penetrates into the fiber interior through the pores on the fiber surface. Furthermore, the solubility of the crosslinking agent is higher at high temperatures, and higher temperatures can increase the concentration of the crosslinking agent aqueous solution. At the same time, the molecular thermal motion of the crosslinking agent in the crosslinking agent aqueous solution at higher temperatures is more intense, which can enable the crosslinking agent to enter the fiber interior quickly and reach equilibrium in a short time, thereby shortening the crosslinking agent treatment time (paragraph 0015). This crosslinking heating step in CN’754 meets the limitation of the heating step in in the instant claims because the crosslinking solution is heated to ensure sufficient crosslinking to the cellulose fibers and would maintain the never-dried state since no drying step is disclosed before or during the crosslinking step and is only dried after the crosslinking step is finished.
CN’754 demonstrates in Example 1 (paragraphs 0045-0050) their method in which a spinning solution was extruded through spinneret to obtain washed yarn which was subsequently soaked in a 1 wt% dihydroxymethyldihydroxyethylene urea crosslinking solution. The temperature of the crosslinking agent during soaking is 65 degrees Celsius.
It would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Stigsson by further including zinc oxide into the spinning dope dissolved cellulose solution as disclosed by Hedlund, extruding the spinning dope into the coagulation bath as disclosed by Hedlund, and further modifying the crosslinking step in Stigsson by applying the crosslinking step after washing the cellulose fibers as disclosed in CN’754 and further using the crosslinking steps in CN’754 to arrive at the claimed invention.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have combined prior art elements of including zinc oxide and the extrusion step according to known methods to yield predictable results and would have a reasonable expectation of success in doing so because both Stigsson and Hedlund teach the same method of forming cellulose fibers that involves providing a spinning dope solution containing dissolved cellulose that is then further injected/extruded into a coagulation bath.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to use the method steps of CN’754 because CN’754 teaches that their produced regenerated cellulose fibers have good antigen fibrillation effect, high strength, and good durability. Furthermore, CN’754 teaches that their crosslinking method steps such as heating the crosslinking solution allows for the microporous structure of the fiber surface to remain loose, which accelerates the speed at which the crosslinking agent penetrates into the fiber interior through the pores on the fiber surface.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have a reasonable expectation of success because both Stigsson and CN’754 teach the same method of forming regenerated cellulose fibers by injecting/extruding, coagulating, and washing a spinning cellulose solution as well as adding a crosslinking agent to form the fibers.
Claim(s) 2-3, 6, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stigsson (WO2018169479A1 in IDS filed on 03/21/2024) in view of Hedlund et al. (US20190062950A1 in IDS filed 04/09/2026) and CN110172754A (in IDS filed 03/21/2024, an English translation is included in PTO-892 and used as the basis for this rejection), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Scheibli et al. (US6036731A in PTO-892) and as evidenced by Khattab et al. (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, published 2019 in PTO-892).
The combined teachings of Stigsson, Hedlund, and CN’754 are as described above and teach the method of claim 1 as discussed above.
Furthermore, Stigsson teaches that after the coagulation step, the fiber is stretched and washed in either an alkaline bath or an acidic bath (fifth paragraph page 6).
Even though the combined references described above provide guidance of adding a crosslinking agent after washing the fibers, the combined references do not teach applying the crosslinking agent in combination with an inorganic alkali, further including a reactive dyestuff having two or more reactive groups, and performing the washing step to a pH between 10-12 or 5-11.
Scheibli teaches a method of crosslinking regenerated cellulosic fiber materials by applying a crosslinking agent according to their general formula (1) with the proviso that the radical [R]n includes at least two fiber-reactive groups (Abstract). Scheibli teaches that their crosslinked cellulosic fibers achieve permanent finish effects such as easy care, dimensional stability, and shrink resistance (Abstract).
Scheibli teaches that the crosslinking to the cellulose is achieved by the presence of alkaline pH and including alkaline compounds such as sodium hydroxide (column 15 lines 1-15). Scheibli teaches the alkaline pH is within the range of 7-13 (column 14 lines 50-54). Scheibli teaches the treatment process is preferably carried out by an exhaust method, in which the treatment temperature ranges from 20-100 degrees Celsius (column 16 lines 5-11).
Scheibli teaches that their crosslinking method also comprises the addition of a reactive dye along with the crosslinking agent especially for alkaline treatment liquors (column 14 lines 10-20).
Scheibli demonstrates in Example 2 (column 16 lines 45-65 through column 17-18) of their crosslinking and dyeing method. Viscose fabric was clamped at 50 degrees Celsius into an exhaust dyeing machine with a liquor comprising 8 g of Glauber Salt and 1 g of a colourless compound of the formula (100) (crosslinking agent) as per Table 1 and 0.1 g of the dye of the formula (200) as per Table 2 1 or 0.1 g of the dye of the formula (200) as per Table 2. After 20 minutes of agitation at 50 C., 2 g of anhydrous sodium carbonate are added in two portions and further agitated for 10 minutes. The liquor temperature is raised to 60° C., and 0.2 ml of 30% sodium hydroxide solution is added. After 20 minutes, the bath is dropped and the viscose fabric is rinsed cold, washed out at the boil and rinsed cold once more and dried. The result obtained is a navy viscose fabric having higher dimensional stability and higher wet abrasion resistance.
Scheibli shows the reactive dye compound structures in Table 2 (column 19-20) such as:
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271
674
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Greyscale
This dye compound contains two vinyl sulfone groups and as evidenced by Khattab, this vinyl sulfone is the reactive site in which the dye covalently binds to the cellulose fiber (see Fig. 2 in Khattab). Therefore, this dye compound meets the limitation of a reactive dyestuff having two or more reactive groups.
It would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method as disclosed by the combined teachings of Stigsson, Hedlund, and CN’754 described above by using the crosslinking and dye addition method of Scheibli, which involves the use of a crosslinking solution that comprises a crosslinking agent, a reactive dye, and alkaline compounds such as sodium hydroxide, to arrive at the claimed invention.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include the crosslinking and dye addition steps in Scheibli because Scheibli discloses that their crosslinked cellulosic fiber products achieve permanent finish effects such as easy care, dimensional stability, and shrink resistance.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have a reasonable expectation of success because the combined teachings of Stigsson, Hedlund, and CN’754 described above teach the formation of a regenerated cellulosic fiber and further crosslinking the cellulosic fiber using a crosslinking agent that is heated, and Scheibli also discloses the crosslinking of regenerated cellulosic fiber by using a crosslinking agent and heating within the same temperature ranges.
In regard to instant claims 2 and 19-20, It would have also been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the washing step as disclosed by the combined teachings of Stigsson, Hedlund, and CN’754 described above by washing to a pH of 7-13 as disclosed in Scheibli to arrive at the claimed invention.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have combined prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results and would have a reasonable expectation of success in doing so because Scheibli teaches that their crosslinking reaction and dye addition is performed under an alkaline pH of 7-13, and the combined teachings of Stigsson, Hedlund, and CN’754 described above provide guidance of a method in which cellulosic fibers are formed by coagulation in a pH above 7 and further washing the fibers under acidic or alkaline conditions before adding the crosslinking agent. Furthermore, the pH range of 7-13 disclosed in Scheibli overlaps with the pH range for the partial washing and washing steps recited instant claims 19-20, rendering the instant pH range obvious. See MPEP 2144.05 I.
Claim(s) 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stigsson (WO2018169479A1 in IDS filed on 03/21/2024) in view of Hedlund et al. (US20190062950A1 in IDS filed 04/09/2026) and CN110172754A (in IDS filed 03/21/2024, an English translation is included in PTO-892 and used as the basis for this rejection), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Scheibli et al. (US6036731A in PTO-892) and Khattab et al. (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, published 2019 in PTO-892).
The combined teachings of Stigsson, Hedlund, and CN’754 are as described above and teach the method of claim 1 as discussed above.
The combined references, however, do not teach further including a monolinking dyestuff.
The teachings of Scheibli are as described above.
Khattab teaches reactive dying of cellulose fiber (pages 3807-3809).
Khattab teaches several dye compounds as shown in Fig. 1 (page 3807), which contain a vinylsulfone or monochlorotriazine to bond to the cellulose as shown in Figs. 2-3 (page 3808). These dye compounds meet the limitation of a monolinking dyestuff since these compounds contain only one reactive site in which the dye binds to the cellulose.
Khattab teaches general dyeing fundamentals in which leveling proceeds better at higher pH and that dyeing equilibrium is reached at higher speeds using higher temperatures (~80 degrees Celcius) (first paragraph left column under section “Dyeing fundamentals” page 3809).
It would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method as disclosed by the combined teachings of Stigsson, Hedlund, and CN’754 described above by using the crosslinking and dye addition method of Scheibli and further substituting the dye compound of Scheibli with a dye compound disclosed in Khattab to arrive at the claimed invention.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include the crosslinking and dye addition steps in Scheibli because Scheibli discloses that their crosslinked cellulosic fiber products achieve permanent finish effects such as easy care, dimensional stability, and shrink resistance.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have a reasonable expectation of success because the combined teachings of Stigsson, Hedlund, and CN’754 described above teach the formation of a regenerated cellulosic fiber and further crosslinking the cellulosic fiber using a crosslinking agent that is heated, and Scheibli also discloses the crosslinking of regenerated cellulosic fiber by using a crosslinking agent and heating within the same temperature ranges.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have substituted one known element (dye compounds in Scheibli) for another (dye compounds of Khattab) to obtain predictable results and would have a reasonable expectation of success in doing so because both Scheibli and Khattab teach that their respective dyes compound can be used for dyeing cellulose fibers using the same linking mechanism (vinylsulfone) and performing the crosslinking under similar alkaline / high temperature conditions.
Conclusion
No claim is found allowable.
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/D.H.C./Examiner, Art Unit 1693
/SCARLETT Y GOON/Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 1693
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