Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/697,801

FLUORINATED CLEANING FLUID

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Apr 02, 2024
Examiner
ELHILO, EISA B
Art Unit
1761
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
3M Company
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 11m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allow Rate
1184 granted / 1425 resolved
+18.1% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+15.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 11m
Avg Prosecution
33 currently pending
Career history
1458
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
37.5%
-2.5% vs TC avg
§102
19.2%
-20.8% vs TC avg
§112
25.1%
-14.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1425 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
Claims 1-14 are pending in this application. DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 1 The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 2 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. 3 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 1-2 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)1 as being anticipated by Ito (US 20210238506 A1). Ito (US’ 506 A1) teaches a cleaner composition comprising a component (A) of cis-1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene (chlorinated hydrofluoroolefin) having the following formula: PNG media_image1.png 128 220 media_image1.png Greyscale which is identical to the claimed structure 1 as claimed in claims 1 and 2 (see claim 6), and a component (B) of methoxyperfluoroheptene (perfluorinated olefin) as claimed in claim 1 (see claim 4), and wherein the cleaner composition is non-flammable as claimed in claim 7 (see page 1, paragraph, 0019), and wherein the cleaner composition is spraying as claimed in claim 8 (see page 3, paragraph, 0041). Ito (US’ 506 A1) teaches a cleaner composition identical to the claimed cleaning composition, which inherently should have same physical properties of boiling point of less than 100 OC as claimed in claim 9 and is compatible with the same components as claimed in claim 10. Ito (US’ 506 A1) teaches all the limitations of the instant claims. Hence, Ito (US’ 506 A1) anticipates the claims. 4 Claims 1-2 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)1 as being anticipated by Masanobu et al. (WO 2019093350 A1). English translation of the Patent No. WO 2019/093350 A1) is used in this Office action. Masanobu et al. (WO’ 350 A1) teaches a detergent composition comprising a compound (Z) 1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene (chlorinated hydrofluoroolefin) and a mixture of metoxyperfluoroheptene, ethoxyperfluorohexane and ethoxyperfluoroheptene (perfluorinated olefin mixture where the perfluorinated comprises at least 6-carbon atoms) as claimed in claims 1 and 2 (see abstract and claims 4 and 8 of English translation of the Patent No. (WO’ 350 A1), wherein the detergent composition is non-flammable as claimed in claim 7 (see page 43, third paragraph) and wherein the detergent composition is sprayable as claimed in claim 8 (see page 46, second paragraph). Masanobu et al. (WO’ 350 A1) teaches a detergent composition identical to the claimed cleaning composition, which inherently should have same physical properties of boiling point of less than 100 OC as claimed in claim 9 and is compatible with the same components as claimed in claim 10. Masanobu et al. (WO’ 350 A1) teaches all the limitations of the instant claims. Hence, Masanobu et al. (WO’ 350 A1) anticipates the claims. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 5 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 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito (US 20210238506 A1). Ito (US’ 506 A1) teaches a cleaner composition comprising a component (A) of cis-1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene (chlorinated hydrofluoroolefin) as claimed (see claim 6), and a component (B) of methoxyperfluoroheptene (perfluorinated olefin) as claimed (see claim 4). The instant claims differ from the teaching of Ito (US’ 506 A1) by reciting the percentage amounts of claimed components. However, Ito (US’ 506 A1) teaches the mass ratio of the component (A) and component (B) is 99:1 to 55:45 in the cleaning composition (see abstract). Therefore, in view of the teaching of Ito (US’ 506 A1), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to optimize the amounts of the components in the cleaning composition in order to get the maximum amounts of these components in the cleaning composition, and, thus, the person of the ordinary skill in the art would expect such a cleaning composition to have similar property to those claimed, absent unexpected results. Allowable Subject Matter 6 Claims 6 and 11-14 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 closest prior art of record (US 20210238506 A1) teaches a cleaner composition comprising a component (A) of cis-1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene (chlorinated hydrofluoroolefin) (see claim 6), and a component (B) of methoxyperfluoroheptene (perfluorinated olefin having 7 carbon atoms) (see claim 4). However, the closest prior art of record (US’ 506 A1) does not teach a hydrofluorothioether of the structure 4 as claimed . The closest prior art of record (US’ 506 A1) also does not teach or disclose a cleaning composition comprising at least 3 fluid components as claimed. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EISA B ELHILO whose telephone number is (571)272-1315. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM. 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, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at (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 published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /EISA B ELHILO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 02, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 14, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12600929
PROCESS FOR MAKING A PARTICULATE LAUNDRY DETERGENT COMPOSITION
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12589063
COMPOSITION COMPRISING A COMBINATION OF TWO PARTICULAR OXIDATION DYE PRECURSORS, AN AMPHOTERIC OR ZWITTERIONIC SURFACTANT AND A SOLID FATTY SUBSTANCE
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12584079
Fabric Softening Compositions
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12577506
USE OF ENCAPSULATED NATURAL COLORS
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Patent 12577505
GRANULES COMPRISING PROTONATED TRIAZACYCLIC COMPOUNDS AND BLEACHING AGENT AND CLEANING AGENT COMPRISING THE SAME
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
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
83%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+15.9%)
1y 11m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1425 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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