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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicants’ election with traverse of Group I claims in the reply filed on 9/1/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the six groups of claims can be examined without serious burden. This is not found persuasive because the groups of claims are classified in different groups. However, the examiner agrees that claim 11 should be grouped with the claims represented by Group I and is therefore herein examined. But regarding the other Groups of claims, the arguments are not persuasive.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 9-10 and 12-22 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Group II-VI claims, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 9/1/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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.
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 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.
Claims 1-5, 8 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Joly et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0179513 (hereinafter referred to as Joly).
Regarding claims 1-5, 8 and 11, Joly discloses (see Claims of Jolly, see Examples, see Figures 1-2 and Para. [0067]-[0074], [0080]-[0084], [0124]- [0127] and [0154]-[0158]) a step for separating, by a separation unit (1), a flow (2) obtained by steam cracking a feed from biomass to obtain a toluene flow (18), a step for distilling the toluene flow (18) with a toluene column (5), and a step for subjecting the distilled product to extraction through crystallization or the like using a xylene separation column (10) to obtain highly pure xylene (39), wherein ortho-xylene and meta- xylene from the separation column are sent to an isomerization unit (11) to form a para-xylene enriched flow (42), which is then purified and entered into a flow to be collected as highly pure xylene, a toluene flow (41) can be sent to a unit (8) for disproportionation, toluene is converted into benzene and xylene which then enter into the aforementioned flow and are sent to a flow for obtaining para-xylene.
The product obtained by the method of Joly is obtained from a biomass raw material, and the product contains. It would be obvious to a person skilled in the art that para-xylene is then oxidized to terephthalic acid and made into a polymer; thus, this feature is substantially disclosed in Joly.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
Claims 1-5, 8 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Peters et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0087000 (hereinafter referred to Peters).
Regarding claims 1-5, 8 and 11, Peters discloses that "aromatic compounds.
are produced by reacting a mixture of naphtha at high heat and high pressure. The mixture of aromatic compounds (for example, BTX) is subjected to a subsequent process to obtain the desired product, toluene which can be disproportionated to form benzene and xylene. Individual xylene isomers can be isolated by fractionation (for example, absorption separation, fractional crystallization, etc.) (Para. [0002] and [0013] – discloses that "conventional carbohydrates such as those derived from corn are
used as renewable feedstocks", and Para. [0024] – discloses that "bio-based hydrocarbons have a 14C/12C isotope ratio greater than 0", Para. [0094] discloses that "further separation and purification steps are required to obtain a pure p-xylene suitable for later conversion into a terephthalic acid or a terephthalic acid ester suitable for polyester production". Para. [0008] of the instant application recites that the "renewable raw material" is "widely understood if it corresponds to a renewable organic resource").
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VISHAL V VASISTH whose telephone number is (571)270-3716. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-4:30 and 7:00-10:00p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Prem Singh can be reached at 5712726381. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VISHAL V VASISTH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771
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