DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application
Receipt is acknowledged of Applicants’ Amendments and Remarks, filed 27 July 2026, in the matter of Application N° 18/776,567. Said documents have been entered on the record. The Examiner further acknowledges the following:
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-20 are pending, where claims 17-19 remain withdrawn from consideration.
No claims have been added or canceled.
Claims 2 and 15 have been amended. Claim 2 has been amended to change “the anionic surfactant” to “each of the first anionic surfactant and second anionic surfactant is independently selected from…”, thereby synchronizing the language with claim 1. Claim 15 is editorially amended.
No new matter has been added.
Thus, claims 1-16 and 20 continue to represent all claims currently under consideration.
Information Disclosure Statement
No new Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) have been filed for consideration.
Withdrawn Rejections
Rejection under 35 USC 112
Applicants’ amendment to claim 2 is sufficient in overcoming the previously raised antecedent basis issue. Said rejection is withdrawn.
Rejection under 35 USC 103
Applicants’ remarks traversing the disclosure of Fowler are acknowledged, but not persuasive, except for those discussing the absence of the recited thickener component. In this respect, Applicants’ response is adequate in overcoming the previously raised obviousness rejection. Said rejection is withdrawn.
New Rejections
Due to the withdrawn rejection and reconsideration of the art, the following ground(s) of rejection are applied.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the Examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicants are advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the Examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tan et al. (US Pre-Grant Publication Nº 2021/0121373 A1).
The instantly claimed invention is directed to a personal care composition comprising:
a first anionic surfactant (e.g., sodium laureth sulfate);
a second anionic surfactant (e.g., sodium lauryl sulfate);
a third surfactant that is amphoteric (aka zwitterionic) (e.g., CAPB);
a polyvinyl alcohol or derivative thereof;
a thickener;
an oil (e.g., mineral oil); and
a suitable carrier (e.g., water).
The composition is also recited as comprising an optional additive (e.g., conditioning agent).
The remaining limitations discussing the preparation steps (i.e., heating, filtration, etc.) for the claimed composition are acknowledged, but are not considered to contribute to the overall patentability of the claimed composition. See MPEP §2113.
Claim 20 recites a method of shampooing hair with a person care dissolvable sheet comprising: wetting the hair with water, applying the sheet onto the wet hair, foaming the sheet by massaging the hair, and rinsing the hair with water.
Tan discloses a dissolvable solid article comprising dissolvable sheets, wherein said sheets comprise a water-soluble polymer and a first surfactant (see e.g., claim 16). Claim 17 discloses that the water-soluble polymer is polyvinyl alcohol.
The practiced sheet composition is further taught as comprising a coating which is present on at least one surface of at least one of said two or more sheets, provided that said coating composition is not on any of the outer surfaces of the dissolvable solid article. The coating is compositionally defined as containing a second surfactant, a rheology modifier (aka thickener), a solvent (carrier), and a perfume (optional additive) (see e.g., claim 19).
The first surfactant is further defined by the reference as being formed of anionic surfactants, zwitterionic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, and combinations thereof. See ¶[0115]. The Examiner submits that the foregoing is considered to teach and suggest the first, second, and third surfactant limitations recited by claim 1.
Regarding the recited oil component, the Examiner notes that the definition for the anionic surfactant(s) includes C10-18 n-paraffins (aka mineral oil). See ¶[0125]. Alternatively, the perfume may be provided as perfume oil capsules within the practiced sheets (see e.g., Table 18).
Additional definitions for the anionic surfactants include both sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate (see e.g., Tables 2 and 18; ¶[0120]). Such is considered to teach the limitations recited by instant claims 2-4.
The limitations recited by claims 5-7 are directed to the amphoteric (zwitterionic) surfactant such as cocoamidopropyl betaine. Following the disclosure of ¶[0115], ¶[0134] further defines those zwitterionic surfactants that are encompassed by the practiced invention, and notably teaches using cocoamidopropyl betaine.
The limitations recited by instant claims 8 and 9 are directed to the composition of claim 1 further comprising a nonionic surfactant.
Claim 5 of the reference discloses that the “second” surfactant disclosed as being part of the coating component, will comprise a non-ionic surfactant. Additionally, the definition of the “first” surfactant in ¶[0115] includes nonionic surfactants as part of the blend of surfactants included therein. Paragraphs [0128]-[0130] further define the nonionic surfactants that are encompassed by the practiced invention. Therein, nonionic surfactants disclosed as being used or even preferred, include sorbitan monostearate (SPAN® 60), alkyl polyglucosides, and ethoxylated alcohols.
The limitations recited by instant claims 10 and 11 are directed to the composition of claim 1 further comprising a cationic surfactant. Following the disclosure of ¶[0115], ¶[0135]-¶[0137] further define those cationic surfactants that are encompassed by the practiced invention, and notably teaches using diethyl quaternary amines (DEQA) and dimethylamines. See ¶[0136].
The limitations recited by instant claims 14 and 15 are directed to the carrier being further defined as a solvent such as water. Claim 6 further defines the coating composition as comprising the solvent which may be embodied by water. Paragraphs [0166]-[0169] disclose that the solvent may not only be water, but that the composition will most preferably contain less than 5% by weight of water and most preferably from 0.01-5 wt% of water.
Lastly, regarding the intended use limitations recited by claim 16 and the method of claim 20, ¶[0159], for instance, discloses that one of the non-limiting uses for the practiced solid sheet include hand cleansing products, hair shampoo or other hair treatment products, body cleansing products, personal care substrates containing other applicable products, etc. Other disclosures in the reference provide similar teachings and suggestions for the recited use. See also ¶[0150] and ¶[0184].
Based on the combined teachings of the reference, the Examiner submits that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success at producing the instantly claimed composition and arriving at the recited method of treatment. Therefore, the invention as a whole would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and absent a clear showing of evidence to the contrary.
All claims under consideration remain rejected; no claims are allowed.
Conclusion
Due to the new grounds of rejection, this action is deemed non-final.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Jeffrey T. Palenik whose telephone number is (571) 270-1966. The Examiner can normally be reached on 9:30 am - 7:00 pm; M-F (EST).
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Robert A. Wax can be reached on (571) 272-0623. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Jeffrey T. Palenik/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1615
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