Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 23, 2026
Application No. 18/926,792

PARTICULATE FABRIC TREATMENT COMPOSITION WITH SUGAR AMINE CHLORINE SCAVENGER

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 25, 2024
Priority
Nov 08, 2023 — provisional 63/547,763
Examiner
ELHILO, EISA B
Art Unit
1761
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allowance Rate
1211 granted / 1460 resolved
+17.9% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+16.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 9m
Avg Prosecution
45 currently pending
Career history
1505
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.7%
-37.3% vs TC avg
§103
39.8%
-0.2% vs TC avg
§102
18.7%
-21.3% vs TC avg
§112
24.3%
-15.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1460 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application. DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 1 The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 2 This action is responsive to the applicant’s election without traverse received by the office on September 02, 2026. Election of claims 11-20 is acknowledged. Claims 1-10 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention. Therefore, claims 11-20 are pending in this application. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 3 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. 4 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 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ness et al. (WO 2005005591 A1) in view of Lo et al. (CN 111788287 A) and further in view of Dihora et al. (US 20110269657 A1). English translation of the Patent No. (CN 111788287 A) is used in this Office action. Ness et al. (WO’ 591 A1) teaches a water-soluble solid fabric composition comprising at least one water soluble support, at least one fragrance (see abstract), wherein the water soluble support include sodium chloride in the amount of from 70 to 99% by weight as claimed in claims 11, 15 and 16 (see claims 5 and 6), wherein the fragrance is present in an amount of at least from 0.5 to 20% as claimed in claims 17 and 18 (see claims 7 and 10) and the solid composition also comprises amorphous silica (structuring agent) in the amount of 1.5% as claimed in claims 19 and 20 (see Example 1). The instant claims differ from the teaching of Ness et al. (WO’ 591 A1) by reciting a solid fabric treatment composition incapsulated in a container and wherein the solid fabric treatment composition comprises chlorine scavenger in specific percentage amount and wherein the container is water-soluble polymer or water-dispersible polymer. However, Ness et al. (WO’ 591 A1) teaches that the solid fabric detergent composition is packaging in a container (see page 6, second paragraph). Lo et al. (CN’ 287 A) in analogous art of solid cleaning formulation, teaches a solid cleaning composition as solid particulate in a container comprises a water-soluble film container such as polyvinyl alcohol (polymer) as claimed in claim 11 (see page 74, last paragraph and page 75, first paragraph). Dihora et al. (US’ 657) in other analogous art of a fabric detergent formulation, teaches a detergent composition of solid fabric enhancer in a unit does detergent comprising a detergent and a water soluble film encapsulating the detergent (see page 13, paragraph, 0117), wherein the solid cleaning composition comprises sugar amines (chlorine scavengers) include glucosamine, N-acetyl glucosamine, mannosamine, N-acetyl mannosamine and galactosamine in the amounts from about 0.5% to about 5% of the sugar amine as claimed in claims 11-14 (see page 20, paragraph, 0201). Therefore, in view of the teachings of Lo et al. (CN’ 287 A) and Dihora et al. (US’ 657), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to be motivated to modify the detergent composition of Ness et al. (WO’ 591 A1) by incorporating the chlorine scavenger species as taught by Dihora et al. (US’ 657) and to maintain the solid detergent composition in a container that comprises a water-soluble polymer as taught by Lo et al. (CN’ 287 A) to arrive at the claimed invention. Such a modification would be obvious because the person of the ordinary skill in the art would expect that the use of sugar amines as taught by Dihora et al. (US’ 657) and to use a water-soluble polymer as a container as taught by Lo et al. (CN’ 287 A) would be similarly useful and applicable to the analogous detergent composition taught by Ness et al. (WO’ 591 A1), in the absence of unexpected results. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EISA B ELHILO whose telephone number is (571)272-1315. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at (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 published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /EISA B ELHILO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 25, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 29, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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METHOD FOR PRODUCING CARBAMATED CELLULOSE FIBERS
2y 8m to grant Granted Oct 20, 2026
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OIL-SOLUBLE BEETROOT RED PIGMENT AND PREPARATION METHOD AND APPLICATION THEREOF
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Patent 12758478
ESTER COMPRISING HYDRATABLE CONCENTRATED SURFACTANT COMPOSITION
2y 9m to grant Granted Oct 13, 2026
Patent 12760244
CLEANING COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING SURFACE MODIFICATION POLYMERS
2y 3m to grant Granted Oct 13, 2026
Patent 12751910
ADDITIVE COMPOSITION FOR IMPROVING BUBBLE DENSITY AND BUBBLE ELASTICITY AND COMPOSITION FOR SKIN CLEANSING
2y 10m to grant Granted Oct 06, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+16.2%)
1y 9m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1460 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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