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 Claims 2-5, 7-9, 12, 13, 15-20 are withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to non-elected inventions or species.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 May 26, 2026 has been entered.
The previous grounds of rejection are withdrawn in light of the applicant’s amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. § 112 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
(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.
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 6, 10, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) because the term “C4 or greater alkyl” is inconsistent with claim 1 which requires C8-C17 alkyl. As a result, the scope of the claim is indefinite.
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). The linear or branched alkyl groups include octyl, which contains 8 carbon atoms (par. 45). 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.
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 June 11, 2026
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