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 .
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 4 be found allowable, claim12 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Uragami et al., JP 2004-277717.
Uragami teaches phenol arylalkyl resins [0024] adhering to the formula
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132
538
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,
where n = 0 to 50 according to [0008] of the translated document, derived from the phenol compounds complying with formula (1)
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134
284
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and xylylene dichlorides of the formula (2)
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96
414
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.
All three formulae are depicted on page 3 of the original. Suitable embodiments of the phenol-type compound and xylylene dichloride are outlined in paragraphs [0019] and [0020] respectively of the translated document. Phenol is used in a first exemplification, thus symbolizing its particular suitability, and, while it is copolymerized with p-xylylene dichloride, as opposed to o-xylylene dichloride, there are sufficiently few permutations of the xylylene dichloride component, 3 in total, that a skilled practitioner of the prior art invention could at once envisage all of the possible monomer combinations, also numbering three in total, of the favored phenol compound and the three permutations of xylylene dichloride.
The phenol arylalkyl resins fulfill the role of precursors that may undergo reaction with chlorohydrin [0011,0024] to yield epoxy resins of the formula (4) anticipatory of that depicted in claim 4
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150
606
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depicted on page 6 of the original.
Given that the resin is obtained from the same reactants used in Applicants’ synthetic approach, the epoxy equivalent range of the prior art epoxy resin (4) will inherently possess the same epoxy equivalent as is disclosed in claims 5 and 13. One or ordinary skill has a reasonable expectation that the prior art will, likewise, be in possession of a melt viscosity consistent with that required in claims 6, 14, and 15.
As for claims 7, 8, and 16-19, the epoxy resins prepared from the aforementioned phenol arylalkyl may be subsequently cured using one of the hardeners reference in [0025].
Concerning claims 9, 10, and 20, there is contemplated in [0026] the utilization of glass- and carbon fibers as suitable embodiments of a filler. The skilled artisan is quite familiar with their role as materials that impart to an epoxy resin enhanced mechanical strength and low thermal expansion at high levels of fiber incorporation. It is these benefits that would motivate a skilled practitioner of the prior art invention to include reinforcing fiber materials in the epoxy resin host.
WO 2021/251052 teaches a resin anticipatory of at least claims 1 and 2. See [0044-0049] of the related U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0272156. However, insofar as it fails to reject any more than what is already addressed by the prior art of record, and because it is commonly assigned and would only qualify as 102(a)(2) art, no formal statement of rejection over this disclosure will be proffered at the present time.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARC S ZIMMER whose telephone number is (571)272-1096. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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September 9, 2026
/MARC S ZIMMER/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1765
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