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
Upon further consideration, the Species Restriction has been withdrawn. However, the restriction among the groups is maintained.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group 1 in the reply filed on 08/17/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 12 and 16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group 2 and 3, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 08/17/2026
Claim 1 is directed to an allowable product. Pursuant to the procedures set forth in MPEP § 821.04(b), claims 35, 56 and 63-64, directed to the process of making or using the allowable product, previously withdrawn from consideration as a result of a restriction requirement, are hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104. Claims 12 and 16, directed to the invention(s) of Group 2 and 3 do not require all the limitations of an allowable product claim, and have NOT been rejoined.
Because a claimed invention previously withdrawn from consideration under 37 CFR 1.142 has been rejoined, the restriction requirement among groups 1 and 4 as set forth in the Office action mailed on 06/16/2026 is hereby withdrawn. In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement as to the rejoined inventions, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application.
Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
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 35, 56, 62-64 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.
Regarding Claim 35, there is an issue of antecedent basis with regard to “a crosslinked polymer membrane of Claim 1” that renders the claim indefinite. There is an issue of antecedent with regard to “a plurality of arylimidazolium polymer chains”, which is repeated twice, that renders the claim indefinite. There is an issue of antecedent basis with regard to “a crosslinking moiety” that renders the claim indefinite.
Claim 56 and 63-64 are also rejected, due to their dependency on Claim 35.
Regarding Claims 62 and 64, the limitation of “the electrochemical device is a fuel cell, an electrolyzer, a redox flow battery or another electrochemical device” is an improper Markush group due to “another electrochemical device” which improperly broadens the Markush group.
Claim Objections
Claim 63 is objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 61 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).
Applicant is advised that should claim 62 be found allowable, claims 64 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).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1,5-6,8-11,14-15, 17,22,24,26-27,29-30,32 and 61 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The closest prior arts is Fan (NPL) and Holdcroft et al. (US 11,230,626 B2). Fan teaches a polymer membrane using a polymer of Formula (I), but does not specifically teach cross-linking the specific polymer. Holdcroft teaches cross-linking arylimidazolium polymers, but does not specifically recite the polymer of Formula (I). Du (NPL) teaches cross-linking arylimidazolium polymers, but not specifically Formula (I) with the claimed moiety.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-0358. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday: 9:30am-3:30pm, 8:30PM-10:30PM.
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, Frank Vineis can be reached at (571) 270-1547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Michael Zhang/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781
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