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 § 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 1, 2, 8-12, 17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuchida (JP2018-123260, of record, with English machine translation).
Regarding claim 1, Tsuchida discloses a rubber composition for tires ([0006]) comprising:
a rubber component ([0051-0054]);
a fatty acid amide ([0081,0084]); and
a liquid polymer ([0075-0080]).
As to a polystyrene-equivalent weight average molecular weight measured by gel permeation chromatography of 5,000 or more and less than 40,000, Tsuchida discloses the liquid polymer as having a weight average molecular weight measured by gel permeation chromatography of 1x103 to 2.0x105, preferably 3000 to 15000 ([0076]), said range overlapping the claimed range. Tsuchida also discloses example liquid polymers having molecular weights of 4500 and 8500 ([0139]).
Tuschida does not expressly disclose a working example having both fatty acid amide and a liquid polymer with MW within the claimed range; however, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have configured the rubber composition with fatty acid amide and liquid polymer having MW within the claimed range since Tsuchida discloses fatty acid amide as a processing aid ([0081,0084]) and liquid polymer having 3000 to 15000 molecular weight ([0075-0080]), said range overlapping the claimed range.
Regarding claim 2, Tsuchida discloses the fatty acid processing aid is preferably present at 0.5 to 10 phr ([0086]).
Regarding claims 8 and 20, Tsuchida discloses liquid butadiene polymer ([0077]).
Regarding claim 9, Tsuchida discloses preferably 10 to 25 phr of liquid polymer ([0080]).
Regarding claim 10, Tsuchida discloses 0.5 to 10 phr of fatty acid amide ([0086]) and 10 to 25 phr of liquid polymer ([0080]). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have configured the rubber with liquid polymer to fatty acid amide mass ratio of 1 to 10 since the amounts disclosed by Tsuchida yields a ratio range of 1 to 50, said range overlapping the claimed range.
Regarding claims 11 and 12, Tsuchida discloses natural rubber ([0054, 0094]) and modified conjugated diene-based polymer with functional groups ([0052-0054]).
Regarding claim 17, Tsuchida discloses the composition can be used in a tire tread ([0136]).
Claims 3, 4, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuchida (JP2018-123260, with English machine translation) as applied to claims above, and further in view of Kondo (JP2017-101208, of record, with English machine translation).
Regarding claims 3, 4, and 18, Tsuchida discloses the fatty acid is not particularly limited, but does not expressly disclose a fatty acid bis amide or ethylene bis fatty acid amide. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have provided a fatty acid bis amide or ethylene bis fatty acid amide since Kondo, similarly directed towards a tire rubber composition, teaches providing fatty acids in tread rubber compositions to provide water-repellent properties wherein bis amide is disclosed as a preferred type of amide and ethylene bis stearic acid amide, ethylene bis hydroxy acid amide, ethylene bis behenic acid amide are listed as examples ([0027-0030]). One would have motivated to select a bisamide because they form a water-repellent surface film by blooming, thereby more effectively suppressing snow clogging ([0029]).
Claims 5-7 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuchida (JP2018-123260, with English machine translation) as applied to claims above, and further in view of Appel (US 2007/0135564).
Regarding claims 5-7 and 19, Tsuchida discloses liquid polybutadiene as the liquid polymer but does not disclose the vinyl content. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have employed polybutadiene with vinyl content as claimed since Appel, similarly directed towards tire rubber, teaches liquid polybutadiene with vinyl content of 15 to 50% to achieve good abrasion characteristics, good winter properties, and to reduce the amount of other softeners in the rubber ([0018]), said range overlapping the claimed ranges. Examiner notes that there is 0% styrene content in polybutadiene rubber.
Claims 13, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuchida (JP2018-123260, with English machine translation) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mazaki (JPH09-194640, of record, with English machine translation).
Regarding claims 13, 14, and 16, Tsuchida does not disclose a space-introducing agent or porosity of the rubber; however, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have configured the rubber composition with a space introducing agent and porosity since Tsuchida discloses providing foaming agents within the composition to generate closed gas cells within the rubber, thereby improving ice performance ([0006,0012,0013]). As to claim 16, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have configured the rubber composition with porosity of 5 to 45% since Tsuchida discloses the foaming rate of the rubber matrix is preferably 5 to 35% to provide ice performance, fraction properties, and abrasion resistance, said range overlapping the claimed range.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuchida (JP2018-123260, with English machine translation) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yokoyama (US 20180093533).
Regarding claim 19, Tsuchida does not disclose composite fibers; however, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have configured the rubber composition with composite fibers since Yokoyama, similarly directed towards tire rubber compositions, teaches providing composite fiber to obtain good water drainage and sufficient durability ([0063,0072]).
Conclusion
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/ROBERT C DYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619