CTNF 18/735,275 CTNF 100995 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Information Disclosure Statement Receipt is acknowledged of the Information Disclosure Statement filed on 11/07/2024. The Examiner has considered the reference cited therein to the extent that each is a proper citation. Please see attached USPTO form. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101 07-103 AIA The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. 07-04-01 AIA 07-04 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows: Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title. Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 14 is a use claim without a process step. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. 07-34-01 Claims 6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA) , second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 14 is a use claim without a process step. Hence, the invention is not distinctly claimed. For the purposes of compact prosecution, claim 14 will be interpreted as any use of the liquid composition to soften a fabric. With regards to claims 6 and 13, the phrase "preferably" renders the claims indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. Claim 6 recited “more preferably about 3% to about 6%, by weight of the composition, of alkyl ester quaternary ammonium softening active” (lines 2-3) and claim 13 recites “more preferably a fabric composition comprising cotton fibers” (see line 2). See MPEP § 2173.05(d). For the purpose of compact prosecution, claim 6 will be interpreted as a composition comprising from about 3% to about 7% by weight of the composition of alkyl ester quaternary ammonium softening active. Claim 13 will be interpreted as a method contacting a surface with the liquid condition composition according to claim 1. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-3, and 6-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Declercq et. al (US20220154106A1) hereinafter Declercq . Declercq teaches a liquid conditioning compositions that include alkyl ester quaternary ammonium softening actives (see Abstract). With regards to claims 1 and 6-8, Declercq teaches an exemplary composition comprising 7 wt% alkyl ester quaternary ammonium softening active synthesized from Feedstock 1, 0.7 wt% perfume among others with a viscosity of 259 cps (see Comparative Example 2, Table 2). Perfume may be present as neat oil, for example “free” perfume or unencapsulated perfume (see [0083]). Declerq teaches the use of 0.0001-0.05 wt% of a cationic polymer, such as a cationic chitosan, to serve as a deposition aid, and provide stability, structuring, and rheology benefits (see [0072]-[0073]; see also [0075]). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify comparative Example 2 with cationic chitosan for the stability, structural, and rheology benefits while being sustainable (see [0075]). With respect to the proportions of 0.0001-0.025 wt% and 0.001-0.02 wt% of chitosan for claims 1 and 8 respectively, the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have selected the overlapping portion of the range disclosed by the reference (0.0001-0.025 wt% cationic chitosan for claim 1 and 0.001-0.02 wt% cationic chitosan for claim 8) because overlapping ranges have been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness, "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art", see In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257,191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976; In re Woodruff; 919 F.2d 1575,16USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990). See MPEP 2144.05(I). With regards to claims 2-3, Declercq teaches the perfume delivery system to comprise of neat oil or a core-shell encapsulate with a partitioning modifier and perfume in the core (see [0084]). In Compositions 1-3, Declerq teaches the perfume encapsulates to comprise 0.25 wt% of the composition (see Table 4). With regards to claim 9, Declercq teaches the viscosity of the liquid composition to generally be within 50-300 cps (see [0135]). With regards to claim 10, Declercq teaches the liquid conditioning composition may further comprise a treatment adjunct selected from the group consisting of: additional conditioning agents, dyes, pH control agents, solvents, rheology modifiers, structurants, cationic polymers, surfactants, perfume, perfume delivery systems, chelants, antioxidants, preservatives, or mixtures thereof (see [0064]). Comparative Examples 1-8 all also comprise of a perfume delivery system. With regards to claim 11, Declercq teaches the liquid conditioning composition comprises less than 0.1% of a rheology modifier, a structurant, or a mixture thereof (see [0070]). The subject matter as a whole would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have selected the overlapping portion of the range disclosed by the reference (0.05-0.1 wt% of a rheology modifier or structurant) because overlapping ranges have been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness, because the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art", see In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257,191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976; In re Woodruff; 919 F.2d 1575,16USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990). See MPEP 2144.05(I). With regards to claim 13, Declercq teaches the method of treating may include a step of contacting a surface, preferably a fabric, more preferably a fabric comprising cotton fibers, with a liquid conditioning composition of the present disclosure, optionally in the presence of water (see [0110]). With regards to claim 14, Declercq teaches the present disclosure also relates to the use of an alkyl ester quaternary ammonium softening active as described herein, preferably as part of a liquid conditioning composition, to condition cotton fibers (see [0111]) . 07-22-aia AIA Claim s 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Declercq (US20220154106A1) as applied to claim s 1-3, 6-14 above, and further in view of Wu et. al (US20230001373A1) hereinafter Wu . Declercq teaches a liquid softening composition comprising an alkyl quaternary ammonium ester softening active, cationic chitosan, free and encapsulated perfumes as recited above. However, Declercq does not specifically disclose the volume weighted medial particle size of the perfume encapsulates. Wu teaches the use of core-shell microcapsules comprising of chitosan and perfume in the core in liquid compositions (see Abstract). Wu further teaches the microcapsules to have a particle size distribution in the micron range between about 1-3000 microns, preferably comprised between 1-1000 microns, more preferably between 1-500 microns, and even more preferably between 5-50 microns (see [0024]). Microcapasules A-J which are specific embodiments range in size between 16-47 microns (see Table 12). It would have been reasonable for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the size of the perfume encapsulates of Declercq to be within the range taught by Wu. The person of ordinary skill in the art would make this modification based on the teachings of Wu for the benefit of improved stability and reducing leakage (see [0231]). With regards to claim 5, Declerq teaches the perfume encapsulates may be coated with a deposition aid, a cationic polymer, a non-ionic polymer, an anionic polymer, or mixtures thereof (see [0085]). The person of ordinary skill in the art would coat the modified perfume encapsulates of Declerq with a deposition aid for the benefit of facilitating improved deposition efficiency of softening and freshness actives onto a target surface (see [0072]). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHREYA PAUL whose telephone number is (571)272-1551. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:30am-5:00pm. 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. /SP/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1761 /ANGELA C BROWN-PETTIGREW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1761 Application/Control Number: 18/735,275 Page 2 Art Unit: 1761 Application/Control Number: 18/735,275 Page 3 Art Unit: 1761 Application/Control Number: 18/735,275 Page 4 Art Unit: 1761 Application/Control Number: 18/735,275 Page 5 Art Unit: 1761 Application/Control Number: 18/735,275 Page 6 Art Unit: 1761
Prosecution Insights