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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 3 be found allowable, claim 11 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, for containing the variable “R” for two distinct structures in instant claims 1, 6 and 10. Specifically, it is unclear if the variable “R” has to be the same for both the “R” group in the structure “R”-X-SO3 and for the “R” group that appears in the variable X that has the structure O(O)CCH2(“R”O(O)C)CH in claims 1, 6 and 10. Furthermore, the examiner notes that these two “R” groups have different structure definitions in dependent claim 6. Instant claims 2-5, 7-9 and 11-12 are included in this rejection for being dependent upon claim 1. Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention. A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) is considered indefinite, since the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. In the present case, claim 2 recites the broad recitation “R2 is selected from the group of C6 to C20 alkyl groups”, followed by the narrow recitation of “preferably C10 to C16 alkyl groups”. See MPEP 2173.05(c). Claim 11 is included in this rejection for being dependent upon claim 2. Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "mixing the anionic detergent (2)" in line 15. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Specifically, the examiner asserts that the limitation “anionic detergent (2)” does not appear in claim 10. It appears that this limitation should be amended to recite “mixing the sulfonic acid (2)” to provide proper antecedent basis. Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
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 1-4 and 6-12 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 Smith et al, U.S. Patent No. 6,617,303.
Smith et al, U.S. Patent No. 6,617,303, discloses surfactant compositions comprising anionic surfactants, such as alkylbenzene sulfonates, and ethoxylated amines (see abstract and col. 1, lines 15-20). It is further taught by Smith et al that the surfactant composition contains 8-35% by weight of an anionic surfactant, such as alkylbenzene sulfonates, alkyl sulfates, ether sulfates, secondary alkyl sulfates, alpha-olefin sulfonates, sulfosuccinates, isethionates, and carboxylates (see col. 3, lines 33-40), that the ethoxylated amine has the structure depicted in col. 4, lines 1-28, wherein R contains 8-22 carbon atoms and the ethoxylated amine contains 4-19 moles of ethylene oxide, that the composition is made by mixing the components to form a homogenous liquid solution (see col. 4, line 49-col. 5, line 3), that the salt formed from the reaction has the structure depicted in col. 5, line 44-col. 6, line 3, and that the surfactant compositions are used in a process to wash laundry (see col. 2, lines 26-31), per the requirements of the instant invention. Specifically, note the Examples in Tables 1-13, which contain ethoxylated amines containing 5-12 moles of total ethoxylation. Therefore, instant claims are anticipated by Smith et al, U.S. Patent No. 6,617,303.
In the alternative that the above disclosure is insufficient to anticipate the above listed claims, it would have nonetheless been obvious to the skilled artisan to produce the claimed composition, as the reference teaches each of the claimed ingredients within the claimed proportions for the same utility.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nekmard, WO 2009/112794, discloses hard surface cleaning compositions comprising a fatty amine alkoxylate and a hydrotrope (see abstract).
Adams, U.S. Patent No. 4,741,842, discloses a particulate detergent softener comprising a mixture of a cationic softener and an ethoxylated amine (see abstract).
Grandmaire et al, U.S. Patent No. 4,661,270, discloses softening compositions comprising ethoxylated amine salts (see abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN P MRUK whose telephone number is (571)272-1321. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:00am-5:30pm Monday-Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew, can be reached on 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/BRIAN P MRUK/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
Brian P Mruk
August 17, 2026
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