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 .
Priority
Applicant's claim of priority under 35 U.S.C.§120 as a continuation of US Serial No. 17/024,783 filed Sept. 18, 2020, which is a continuation of Japanese application PCT/JP2018/039733 filed Oct 25. 2018, and which claims foreign priority to Japanese application JP-2018-055615 filed March 23, 2018, is hereby acknowledged.
Election/Restriction
Applicant’s election, without traverse, of Group I (claims 1-8) in the reply filed on Nov. 10, 2025, to the restriction requirement dated Sept. 10, 2025, is hereby acknowledged.
Accordingly, claims 1-8 have been examined in the instant Office action whereas claims 9-14 have been withdrawn from consideration as drawn to a nonelected invention but remain pending with the present application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(1) as anticipated by Kitamura (JP 2015-051394 A to Kitamura et al., published March 3, 2015). Kitamura was cited by Applicant in its Information Disclosure Statement filed June 18, 2024 (‘IDS’) and an English translation thereof has been submitted with the IDS. For purposes of this Office Action, the Examiner will be relying on this English translation submitted by Applicant.
Kitamura discloses an exhaust gas treatment method of treating a cyclic silane that enables gases generated in facilities that handle cyclic silane compounds to be efficiently/safely removed, wherein the gas can contain silane halides and silane halogenides as “waste” products of silicon and halogen compounds, and provide cyclic silanes in industrial applications, wherein the cyclic silane can be a halosilane produced from a reaction of a silane with a polyamine, such as “pedeta”, wherein the method includes contacting the cyclic silane (containing silicon) with a basic treatment solution having an inorganic base to obtain a mixture of the cyclic silane and the treatment solution that becomes easily removable into the atmosphere ([0001]; [0003]; [0004]; [0007]; [0009]; [0010]; [0012] to [0015] of Kitamura).
Kitamura further teaches that the cyclic halosilane can comprise a cyclic chlorosilane (comprises silicon bond) and that the alkali component of the alkaline basic solution is not limited, wherein examples of the alkaline base for the basic treatment solution can include a sodium/potassium carbonate, a sodium/potassium hydroxide or calcium carbonate as the alkali compound ([0017]; [0023]; [0024]; Examples, particularly, [0029] and [0031] to [0033] of Kitamura).
Thus, the instant claims are anticipated by Kitamura.
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 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as unpatentable over Kitamura.
Kitamura was discussed above in the instant action. Kitamura does not provide an example wherein the alkaline component contains the compounds recited in dependent claims 5 and 6.
However, as discussed above, Kitamura teaches that any alkaline base compound can be used in the alkaline solution used for the treatment step. That is, as long as the alkaline compound provides a basic solution having a fluid pH greater than 7, the compound would be a suitable alkali base compounds for Kitamura’s treatment solution.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of filing to select any alkali base compound for the alkaline treatment fluid/step. “The combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more that yield predictable results.” KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395. If a person of ordinary skill can implement a predictable variation, §103 bars its patentability. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 82 USPQ2d at 1396. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-96 (Sup. Ct. 2007)
Thus, present claims 5 and 6 are unpatentable over Kitamura.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is objected to as dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Kitamura does not teach or suggest it treatment method further including performing an ultrasonic treatment on the resultant mixture, as recited in present dependent claim 2.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN J FIGUEROA whose telephone number is (571)272-8916. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 am -6:00 pm.
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/JOHN J FIGUEROA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
March 1, 2026