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 .
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 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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN1197039A in view of GB 828,8983. CN1197039A discloses a process for producing potassium sulfate by reacting potassium chloride, sulfuric acid and magnesium oxide. (See the Abstract and page 2 of the English translation.) The difference between the process disclosed by CN1197039A, and that recited in claims , is that CN1197039A does not disclose that the potassium sulfate should be added to a composition comprising nitrogen and/or phosphorus, and then solidifying the resulting composition. GB 828,883 discloses a process for producing fertilizers wherein fertilizer ingredients comprising nitrogen and/or phosphorus by mixing the ingredients formed by reacting ammonia with sulfuric acid. (See page 1, column 2, lines 55-72.) It would have been obvious from GB 828,883 to add the potassium sulfate product formed according to the process of CN1197039A to a fertilizer ingredient comprising nitrogen and/or phosphorus. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so, since CN1197039A and GB 828,883 are both directed to the production of potassium sulfate fertilizers, and GB 828,883 teaches at the aforementioned passage that the fertilizer should be a combination of the ingredient with a potassium sulfate/sulfuric acid sludge formed by reacting ammonia with sulfuric acid.
Regarding claims 2, 11, 13 and 14, it would be expected that the composition of CN1197039A would have a pH of 3.5 to 4.5, since the product entails the reaction of potassium chloride, sulfuric acid and magnesium oxide.
Regarding claim 3, CN1197039A discloses a magnesium oxide content of 0.019-0.27 % in the Abstract and the fourth paragraph on page 2 of the English translation.
Regarding claims 4, 5 and 15, It would have been obvious from GB 828,883 to form a composition having 0.05 to 0.5 weight % water in the composition of CN1197039A, since GB 828,883 discloses on page 1, lines 73-77 that the product should be preponderantly solid mass which is palpably moist.
Regarding claim 6, it would have been obvious to form the composition in a drum granulator, since GB 828,883 discloses on page 5, line 115 that the product is granular.
Regarding claims 7 and 8, GB 828,883 suggests on page 5, lines 51-57 that the product can include trace metals such as iron.
Regarding claim 9, GB 828,883 discloses on page 1, lines 58-68 that ammonium sulfate is formed by reacting sulfuric acid with ammonia.
Regarding claim 10, GB 828,883 discloses on page 5, lines 7-10 that dolomite can form a coating on the pelleted product.
Regarding claim 12, it would have been obvious to use the product in fertigation, since GB 828,883 discloses on page 3, lines 73-75 that the product may be fine, which one would have appreciated would be suitable in the conventional method of fertigation.
No 344285 b1 is made of record for disclosing various NPK fertilizers in the Background Art.
Palmer et al (US 7,731,775) is made of record for disclosing the production of a fertilizer additive of a magnesium oxide-containing ore at column 5, lines 19-34.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE A LANGEL whose telephone number is (571) 272-1353. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8;15 am to 4;15 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WAYNE A LANGEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
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