DETAILED ACTION
The following Office action concerns Patent Application Number 18/743,348. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application. Claims 2-5, 7-9, 12, 13, 15-20 are withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to non-elected inventions or species.
The applicant’s amendment filed March 4, 2026 has been entered.
The previous grounds of rejection are maintained in this action and discussed below.
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 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, 6, 10, 11, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over He et al (US 2013/0085256).
He et al teaches a diketopyrrolopyrrole(DPP)-fused thiophene copolymer having the structure:
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125
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wherein A and B include oxygen (par. 57). Groups R3 and R4 independently include linear or branched alkyl groups (par. 45, 57). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to select at least one unit having a linear alkyl R3 or R4 and at least one unit having a branched alkyl R3 or R4 since they are selected independently (par. 45, 57). The fused thiophene is beta substituted by R1 and R2.
Regarding claims 6, 10, 11, 14, “X” is a covalent bond and R1-R4 independently include linear or branched alkyl groups having 1-40 carbon atoms (par. 45, 57, 61). When the alkyl groups are linear, one of claimed groups R1/R2 and R3/R4 would be hydrogen. The compound provides improved solubility and stability (par. 7). The copolymer is used to make an electronic device (par. 81).
Response to Arguments
The applicant argues that He et al does not teach a combination of a linear alkyl substituent and a branched alkyl substituent. However, He et al teaches that the substituents include linear alkyl and branched alkyl and that the substituents are selected independently (par. 45, 57). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to select at least one linear alkyl substituent and at least one branched alkyl substituent since He et al teaches both and the substituents are selected independently.
Conclusion
No new ground(s) of rejection was 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Examiner’s Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William Young whose telephone number is (571) 270-5078. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
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 an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /WILLIAM D YOUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761 March 23, 2026