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 .
This Office action is in response to the amendment filed November 17, 2025 in which claim 1 was modified.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tajima (US 5,854,324) in view of JPH04351647 (JP ‘647 appears on the current PTO-892).
Tajima teaches a polyacetal resin composition comprising a polyacetal resin, 1-100 parts by wt based on 100 parts by wt of the polyacetal resin of a modified olefinic polymer modified with at least one member selected from the group consisting of an unsaturated carboxylic acid or anhydride; and a lubricant (see abstract; col. 1, lines 4-12). The olefinic polymer may be a homopolymer of ethylene and the unsaturated acid maybe selected from acrylic acid and methacrylic acid (see col. 2, lines 40-51 and 64-65); col. 3, lines 4-8 and 19-22). The lubricant may be a natural wax, hydrocarbon-based wax, higher fatty acid, higher fatty acid ester, higher fatty acid amide and higher fatty acid salt (metallic) (see col. 4, lines 31-64). The lubricant is added in an amount from 0.1 to 20 parts by wt based on 100 parts by weight of the polymers (see col. 7, lines 54-56). A slide member is produced from the resin composition (see claim 14).
Tajima meets the limitations of the claims other than the presence of an acid-modified ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene resin (UHMW polyethylene). However, JP teaches this limitation.
JP teaches a method for producing a resin composition comprising polyacetal and acid-modified UHMW polyethylene (see page 1, clams). JP teaches a sliding property improver such as UHMW polyethylene may be modified with unsaturated carboxylic acids and derivatives thereof (para 0005). JP teaches that its invention improves sliding properties of molded products (see para 0004). JP teaches adding 2 to 30 parts by wt of the acid modified UHMW polyethylene to the polyacetal resin (see paragraph 0045).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add acid modified UHMW polyethylene to the polyacetal resin because JP teaches that the polymer improves the slidability of the polyacetal, which is a property that Tajima desires.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the secondary reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant has amended claim 1. This amendment required a new search in which JP H04351647 was found. As stated above the combination of Tajima and JP ‘647 renders obvious the claimed resin composition for a sliding member.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/CEPHIA D TOOMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771 s 18938888/20260307