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 17-34, and 36-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lange et al, US 2010/0120657.
Lange et al teach polyorganosiloxanes modified with fragrances (see abstract). Organosilanes may be used as starting materials and they contain a functional group capable of reacting with keto, aldehyde, and hydroxy-functionalized fragrances, wherein the functional group may be hydroxyalkyl groups and alkoxy groups bonded to the silicon atom (¶18). Preferred fragrant alcohols include geraniol (¶36). This organosilane-modified fragrance may be used on textiles and fibers, may be applied to a carrier, or may be used with a non-aqueous detergent or softening formulation (¶117) including surfactants (claims 3, 16, 19, 21, and 22). These compositions contain the fragrance-modified silanes in preferred amounts of from 0.5 to 5% (¶100). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to formulate a functionalized organosilane with hydroxyalkyl or alkoxy groups, and to have this functionalized organosilane react with a fragrant alcohol as this scenario is specifically contemplated by the reference.
With respect to the number of silicon atoms, the examiner maintains a silane, unlike a polysiloxane, will have few, even only one silicon atom, and so the examiner maintains this limitation is satisfied.
With respect to claim 32, the carrier may be a clay or a polyethylene glycol wax (¶75).
With respect to claim 34, these fragrance-modified silanes may be permanently attached to a substrate including textile care products, clothes care products, and sanitary pads (¶86).
Claims 17-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lange et al, US 2010/0120657 in view of Boutique et al, US 2011/0065624.
Lange et al are relied upon as set forth above. Recall that these fragrance-modified silanes are used in non-aqueous detergents. Though obviously non-aqueous detergents must be in a package of some sort, the reference does not teach a unit-dose, water soluble pouch.
Boutique et al teach a non-aqueous laundry detergent in a water-soluble, unit-dose pouch (see abstract and ¶113). The reference is relied upon to demonstrate that unit-dose pouches are common for use with non-aqueous laundry detergents.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES I BOYER whose telephone number is (571)272-1311. The examiner can normally be reached M-S 10-430.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at 5712722817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHARLES I BOYER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
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