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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on July 20, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3, and 5 have been amended. Claim 8 has been cancelled. As such, Claims 1-7 and 9-20 are currently pending in the application, with Claims 11-15 withdrawn from consideration.
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, 3, 5-7, 9, 10, 16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over International Patent Application Publication No. 2019/210221 to George (“George”) in view of U.S. Patent No. 6,022,818 to Welchel et al. (“Welchel”).
With regard to Claims 1 and 9, George discloses a hemp hurd based nonwoven material comprising a portion of hemp hurd and a portion of at least one other material, wherein the other material is a natural or synthetic fiber, such as polyester fiber, polyolefin fiber, cotton, or wood pulp. See, e.g., Abstract, entire document. George discloses that its nonwoven fabric is suitable for use in absorbent articles, such as diapers or sanitary products, where a material is needed for liquid absorption. Paragraphs [0059] and [0098]. George discloses that the hemp hurd is ground or milled to provide powder and/or fibril structure, such as a particle size in the range of 0.1 to 5000 microns. Paragraph [0070]. George teaches that its nonwoven fabric can be formed using air-laid or wet-laid forming methods. Paragraph [0012]. Moreover, George discloses that the nonwoven fabric can be cohesively bonded by thermal or adhesive bonding, hydroentangling, or needle punching. Paragraph [0013]. However, George does not disclose providing the nonwoven fabric between two layers of synthetic or natural fibers using a spunlace process in combination with an air-laid process or a wet-laid process. Welchel is also related to nonwoven composite materials comprising absorbent materials useful in diapers and other absorbent articles. See, e.g., Abstract, column 1, lines 11-20, entire document. Welchel teaches that the nonwoven absorbent materials can be provided with multifunctional handling of fluids by providing multiple layers of fibrous materials, column 1, lines 54-64 and column 5, lines 12-65, and bonding the layers to one another via hydroentanglement. Column 2, lines 34-53. Welchel teaches that initial formation of the fibrous layers can be provided by air-laying. Column 7, lines 54-62. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to provide the nonwoven fabric comprising hurd of George between two layers of synthetic or natural fibers and bond those layer using a spunlace process in combination with an air-laid process or a wet-laid process, in order to provide multifunctional handling of fluids with pathways created by the spunlacing process, as shown to be well known in the art by Welchel. The teachings of Welchel are compatible with George because George already acknowledges that their web materials can be formed using wet-laid or air-laid processes, and because George already acknowledges using spunlacing bonding. With regard to Claims 3, 5, 6, 16, and 18, George discloses “the nonwoven comprises between 1-99% hemp and at least one other cellulosic material at between 99-1%.” Paragraph [0011]. For example, George discloses the nonwoven material comprises 25% to 75% hemp hurd and 75% to 25% cellulose. Paragraph [0092]. With regard to Claims 7 and 20, George discloses the use of an aqueous gel binder. Paragraph [0023]. George teaches that “the gel like material is a binding agent and the composition comprises between 50 and 99% of the cellulosic material and between 1 and 50% of the gel like material.” Paragraph [0073]. As such, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to provide the binding agent disclosed by George in an amount in the range of 0% to 30% by weight, such as 2% to 10% by weight, in order to provide a suitable adhesive bond for the materials in the nonwoven fabric disclosed by George, since George already discloses use of a binding agent in an amount that is a minor component compared to the weight of the fibers. “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456 (CCPA 1955). With regard to Claim 10, George discloses that hemp is an absorbent material. Paragraphs [0060] and [0120]. As such, the hemp hurd would naturally confer some amount of an absorbent property. With regard to Claim 19, George discloses the nonwoven material comprises 50% hurd and 50% cellulosic material. Paragraph [0090].
Claims 2, 4, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over George in view of Welchel, as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0214499 to Qin et al. (“Qin”).
With regard to Claims 2, 4, and 17, George generally teaches the particle dimension of the hurd is about 0.1 to 5000 microns, depending on the utility of the material for use. Paragraph [0070]. Additionally, George establishes that particle size is a variable that is easily adjusted with foreseeable consequences to the size selected. George discloses “[i]n certain applications a fine and consistent size particle is advantageous for homogeneity. However, in other applications, randomness of particle size is also suitable. Accordingly, to streamline the process, when a small micron size material is desired, it is advantageous to use screening processes, such as a classification system.” Id. Qin is also related to absorbent articles, such as diapers, comprising absorbent particulate material. See, e.g., Abstract, entire document. Qin teaches suitable particle size of absorbent material for use in diapers is in the range of 300 to 600 microns. Paragraph [0073]. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to provide the hurd particles in the nonwoven fabric disclosed by the combination of George with Welchel with a diameter in the range of 300 to 600 microns in order to properly use a particle size in the nonwoven fabric suitable for an absorbent article, as shown to be known in the art by Qin. “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456 (CCPA 1955).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the pending claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. To the extent that the arguments still apply to the new ground of rejection, then those arguments are addressed below.
Applicant argues that George describes a hemp hurd based nonwoven produced by carding, air-laid, or wet-laid web forming methods, and separately describes bonding by thermal or adhesive bonding, hydroentangling, or needle punching. Applicant argues that these are listed as throughout George as mutually exclusive alternatives. The Examiner disagrees. George does not disclose or teach that the methods of forming the nonwoven web are mutually exclusive to the methods of bonding the nonwoven web. Applicant provides no citation in George to support this argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEREMY R PIERCE whose telephone number is (571)270-1787. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.
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JEREMY R. PIERCE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1789
/JEREMY R PIERCE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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