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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 1-16 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.
In claim 1, the term “benefit agent” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear what constitutes or functions as “benefit”. The term “benefit” is not defined in the specification. It is suggested that the limitation of claim 9 be added into claim 1 or “benefit agent” be changed to “fragrance material or agriculture active ingredient” (see instant specification, para. 0054) in order to obviate this rejection.
In claim 5, the term “preferably” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation following “preferably” is part of the claim.
Claims 10 and 11 suffer the same deficiency of claim 5.
In claim 12, the term “benefit agent” renders the claim indefinite for the same reason stated in claim 1 above. In addition, the term “high shear” renders the claim indefinite because “high” is a relative term. The specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Other claims are deemed indefinite in view of their dependence on claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 2, 5, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over POPPLEWELL (WO 2020/209908).1
Claim 1: Popplewell teaches delivery particles comprising a core and shell surrounding the core, wherein the core comprises a benefit agent, i.e. an active material and the shell comprises a polymeric material which is biopolymer crosslinked with a crosslinking agent (para. 0006); wherein the biopolymer comprises plant-based fluor (para. 0009) and the crosslinking agent includes isocyanate (para. 0010, 0056 & 0063), thus the shell comprises a reaction product of an isocyanate and a plant-based flour; and wherein the plant-based flour includes soya, chickpea, lentil and rice flour (para. 0020) which flour satisfies the claimed content as follows:
a) a protein content, of at least 15% by weight of the flour,
b) a structural polysaccharide content of at least 10% by weight of the flour,
c) a starch content of less than 50% by weight of the flour, and,
d) a portion of the protein comprising at least one glycoprotein;
See instant specification, page 31, Table 3, that shows content analysis of soybean flour, chickpea flour, lentil flour and rice flour.
In light of Popplewell’s teaching biopolymer to include plant-based material which includes specific flours such as soya, chickpea, lentil and rice as equivalent components to other plant-based materials, it would have been obvious as matter of choice to select those specific flours as components for the plant-based biopolymer material that forms the shell of the delivery particles.
Claim 2: Popplewell teaches the plant-based flour includes soya, chickpea, and lentil flour (para. 0020) which flours inherently have a N-content of 4% to 8.65% (See instant specification, page 31, Table 3, where N-content of soybean flour, chickpea flour and lentil flour is reported, which meets the claimed nitrogen content of from 2.5 to 10% by weight.
Claim 4: The plant-based comprises a structural carbohydrate having a molecular weight of from about 10,000 Da to 40,000,000 Da (para. 0026) which overlaps the claimed range of 5000 kDa to about 35,000 kDa,
Claim 5: Popplewell teaches the plant-based flour comprised of structural carbohydrates comprising arabinogalactan polysaccharide consisting of arabinose and galactose units and uronic acids i.e. glucuronic acid (para. 0039-0040). No reports as to the concentration in the plant-based flour; however, without showing criticality of the concentration, it would have been obvious through routine experimentations.
Claim 7: Popplewell teaches the isocyanate comprising a
polyisocyanurate of toluene diisocyanate, a trimethylol propane adduct of toluene diisocyanate, a trimethylol propane adduct of xylylene diisocyanate, methylene diphenyl isocyanate, toluene diisocyanate, tetramethylxylidene diisocyanate, naphthalene-1,5-disocyanate, phenylene diisocyanate and combinations thereof (para. 0064-0065).
Claim 9: Popplewell teaches he core comprises an active material which includes fragrance (para. 0007 and 0085-0086).
Claim 11: The delivery particles have a mean particle size of 9-49 mm (Page 133, Table 30) which falls within the claimed range of 1 to about 50 mm.
Claim 14: The delivery particles are added as an aqueous slurry (para. 00146-00147).
Claims 15-16: Popplewell teaches an article comprising the core-shell delivery particles of claim 1, wherein the article includes a soap, a surface cleaner, a laundry detergent, a fabric softener, a shampoo, a textile, paper towel, an adhesive, a wipe, a diaper, a feminine hygiene product, a facial tissue, a pharmaceutical, a napkin, a deodorant, a heat sink, a foam, a pillow, a mattress, bedding, a cushion, a cosmetic, a medical device, packaging, an agricultural product (para. 0008).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOA (Holly) LE whose telephone number is (571)272-1511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.
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/HOA (Holly) LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788
1 Provided by Applicant.