DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are rejected.
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 .
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 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 (AIA )
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.
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. Applicant is 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.
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• TOPOLKARAEV ET AL (US 2016/0177044),
in view of MURAKAMI ET AL (US 2007/0173603),
and in view of JP 2005-179386 (YAMAGUCHI-JP ‘386).
TOPOLKARAEV ET AL ‘044 discloses thermoplastic compositions comprising:
• about 60-99 wt% of a matrix polymer (e.g., polyester resins such as poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), etc.) (corresponding to the recited “polymer B”) forming a continuous phase;
• about 1-30 wt% of a microinclusion additive (e.g., polyolefin-based resins, etc.) (corresponding to the recited “polymer A”) forming a dispersed phase or micro-scale domain (e.g., elliptical; cylindrical; plate-like, etc.) (corresponding to the recited “dispersed phase”);
• about 0.05-20 wt% of a nanoinclusion additive (e.g., modified polyolefin-based resins, etc.) forming a dispersed phase or micro-scale domain (e.g., elliptical; cylindrical; plate-like, etc.);
wherein the ratio of the melt flow rate (MFR) (at 190°C, 10 min, 2.16 kg) of the microinclusion additive to the melt flow rate of the matrix polymer (corresponding to the recited “MFR(A)/MFR(B)”) is typically about 0.2-8 (preferably about 0.5-6, etc.).
The thermoplastic compositions can be formed into a variety of forms, including pellets, wherein the pellets can be formed by:
• melt-kneading the matrix polymer, microinclusion additive, and other components of the thermoplastic composition at typical temperatures of 180°C to 300°C;
• extruding the melted thermoplastic composition;
• cooling and cutting the thermoplastic composition to form pellets;
wherein the conditions (rate, residence time, shear rate, melt processing temperature, etc.) of the mixing and extrusion steps are selected to control the degree of dispersion and size of the microinclusion additive domains (corresponding to the recited “polymer A”) in the matrix polymer (corresponding to the recited “polymer B”). The reference further discloses that after melt-kneading and extrusion, the solidified thermoplastic composition can be subjected to drawing to increase the axial dimension of the microinclusion additive domains to 0.5-250 microns (e.g., 2-50 microns, or 5-25 microns) (corresponding to the recited “dispersed phases of the olefin-based polymer A, each having a length”). (entire document, e.g., paragraph 0003, 0021, 0026-0027, 0036-0037, 0045, 0047-0050, 0052-0055, 0071, 0079-0083, 0087, etc.) However, the reference does not specifically mention the melting point of the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) resin or the distribution of dispersed phases.
MURAKAMI ET AL ‘603 discloses that it is well known in the art to utilize resin compositions (F) with a sea-island structure to produce products with improved impact strength, wherein the composition (F) comprises:
• 20-99 wt% of a polar group-containing polymer (D) (e.g., biodegradable polyesters such as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), etc.) which forms a continuous “sea” phase;
• up to 80 wt% of an olefin polymer (E) which forms a dispersed “island” phase with a typical domain size of up to 50 microns;
• 1-30 wt% of a resin modifier (C);
wherein the compositions (F) are typically formed by melt kneading components (C), (D), and (E) (e.g., in an extruder, etc.) at typical temperatures of 180°C to 400°C (e.g., 200°C to 280°C) to form composition (F) products (e.g., pellets, which are subsequently remelted and molded to form molded articles). (paragraph 0008, 0069-0070, 0076, 0080-0084, 0100-0102, 0109-0110, etc.)
YAMAGUCHI-JP ‘386 discloses that it is well known in the art to form poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB)-based resin compositions into pellets or granules to facilitate handling for subsequent molding and manufacturing operations, wherein the PHB resins have a melting point (Tm) of 160°C to 185°C, wherein the PHB resin compositions optionally contain other thermoplastic resins or rubbers. The reference further discloses that the granules (e.g., pellets, etc.) are typically formed by known pellet-forming methods (e.g., strand cutting method; underwater cutting method; hot cutting method; etc.), wherein the PHB-based composition (e.g., the PHB resin and other components) are melted and mixed in an extruder at typical temperatures of 160°C to 185°C to form a melt mixture, followed by extrusion, solidification, and cutting (e.g., of the extruded strands) into pellets (e.g., cylindrical, spheroidal, etc.). (paragraph 0002, 0007-0012, 0014, 0016-0017, 0019, etc.)
Regarding claims 1-11, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize known PHB resins with melting points of 160°C to 185°C (as suggested in YAMAGUCHI-JP ‘386) as the matrix polymer of the thermoplastic compositions of TOPOLKARAEV ET AL ‘044 in order to facilitate the production of pellets for subsequent molding operations.
Further regarding claims 1, 5, 7, 9, 11, one of ordinary skill in the art would have selected the conditions (rate, residence time, shear rate, melt processing temperature, etc.) of the mixing and extrusion steps used to produce pellets from the thermoplastic compositions of TOPOLKARAEV ET AL ‘044 to: (i) obtain a high degree of dispersion (as represented by the number of dispersed phases in 1200 µm2) of the microinclusion additive domains (corresponding to the recited “polymer A is a dispersed phase”) in the pellets formed from the thermoplastic compositions of TOPOLKARAEV ET AL ‘044; and (ii) control the size of the microinclusion additive domains in the pellets formed from the thermoplastic compositions of TOPOLKARAEV ET AL ‘044 (e.g., up to 50 microns, as suggested in MURAKAMI ET AL ‘603); in order to produce molded articles with uniform mechanical properties and effective improvements in impact resistance for specific applications (e.g., since a poor and/or non-uniform distribution of the microinclusion additive domains can lead to undesirable localized stress concentrations which negatively affect the impact strength of a product; and/or an excessively low concentration of the microinclusion additive domains can result in an inability to manifest the desired improvement in impact resistance; etc.).
Regarding claims 7-10, one of ordinary skill in the art would have used a mixture of pre-compounded pellets formed from the thermoplastic compositions of TOPOLKARAEV ET AL ‘044 and other polymeric pellets (e.g., masterbatch pellets containing an olefin-based polymer carrier and functional additives (for example, pigments, fillers, stabilizers, flame retardants, etc.) (corresponding to the recited “olefin-based polymer C”) at temperatures above the melting points of the matrix polymer (e.g., PHB-based resins with melting points of 160°C or more, as suggested in YAMAGUCHI-JP ‘386) to produce molded articles with specific enhanced performance properties (e.g., coloration, mechanical properties, durability, fire resistance, etc.).
Regarding claim 11, one of ordinary skill in the art would have utilized known pelletizing methods (e.g., strand cutting, etc.) as suggested in YAMAGUCHI-JP ‘386 to produce pellets from the thermoplastic compositions of TOPOLKARAEV ET AL ‘044.
Claim(s) 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• TOPOLKARAEV ET AL (US 2016/0177044), in view of MURAKAMI ET AL (US 2007/0173603), and in view of JP 2005-179386 (YAMAGUCHI-JP ‘386),
as applied to claims 1-11 above,
and further in view of MATSUBARA ET AL (US 5,438,090).
MATSUBARA ET AL ‘090 discloses that it is well known in the art to form compositions for molding by melt-blending a base resin (e.g., polyesters, etc.) and masterbatch pellets (e.g., containing one or more additives and an olefin-based polymer) in order to form molded articles with improved or modified performance properties (e.g., flexibility, coloration, slip properties, durability, etc.) (line 12-39, 55-61, col. 1; line 64, col. 6 to line 20, col. 7; etc.).
Regarding claims 7-10, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to melt-blend a mixture of pre-compounded pellets formed from the thermoplastic compositions of TOPOLKARAEV ET AL ‘044 and other polymeric pellets (e.g., masterbatch pellets containing an olefin-based polymer carrier and functional additives, such as, pigments, fillers, stabilizers, flame retardants, etc., as suggested by MATSUBARA ET AL ‘090) (corresponding to the recited “olefin-based polymer C”) at temperatures above the melting points of the matrix polymer (e.g., PHB-based resins with melting points of 160°C or more, as suggested in YAMAGUCHI-JP ‘386) to produce molded articles with specific enhanced performance properties (e.g., coloration, mechanical properties, durability, fire resistance, etc.).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
HONG ET AL (US 2008/0293894) disclose poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) resins with melting points above 170°C.
NAKAMICHI ET AL (2005/0154158) disclose compositions comprising a PHA continuous phase and a polyolefin-based resin dispersed phase, wherein the composition can be in the form of pellets.
TOPOLKARAEV ET AL (US 2015/0159012) and LEON ET AL (US 2024/0034876) disclose PHA-based compositions with a polyolefin-based elastomer disperse phase. CHIBA ET AL (US 2024/0141152) disclose multi-phase PHA / olefin-based compositions.
TANIMOTO (US 2022/0204685) disclose pellets formed from multi-phase PHA / olefin-based compositions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Vivian Chen (Vivian.chen@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 272-1506. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 6 PM. The examiner can also be reached on alternate Fridays.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Callie Shosho, can be reached on (571) 272-1123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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July 11, 2026
/Vivian Chen/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
Prosecution Insights