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 § 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 15-17 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.
Claim 15 recites a bioenergetic woven fabric. Claim 16, which is dependent upon Claim 15, recites that the bioenergetic woven fabric “has a knitted structure.” However, a knitted structure is not generally considered a subset of a woven fabric. Rather, fabrics with a knitted structure are formed of multiple interlocking loops of fiber, and have different structures compared to woven fabrics formed using interlocking warp and weft fibers. It is not clear whether Claim 15 is meant to recite embrace both a woven and a knitted structure, given the latter recitation of a knitted construction in its dependent claims 16 and 17. As such, the scope of Claims 15-17 is indefinite. In light of the manner in which Claim 16 defines a woven fabric to possess a knitted structure, the Office will interpret a knitted fabric to satisfy the limitation of a woven fabric, as defined in Claim 15.
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 1-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. 6,268,544 to Court et al. (“Court”) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0065092 to Bastos et al. (“Bastos”).
With regard to Claims 1, 5-11, 14-16, 18, and 20, Court discloses a wound dressing comprising a mixture of textile fibers and gel forming fibers, wherein the dressing is a knitted fabric comprising support yarn and in-laid yarn. See, e.g., Abstract, entire document. Court discloses that the “wound dressing of the present invention may be made by spinning or twisting gel-forming [fibers] and textile [fibers] together to form the in-laid yarn and then warp knitting using a yarn consisting of textile [fibers] as the pillar yarn to form a gauze, bandage or stocking.” Column 2, line 65 – column 3, line 2. Court teaches that the textile fiber can comprise polypropylene and the gel-forming fiber can comprise alginate twisted together to provide cohesion of the fibers in the formed yarn, Example 1, column 3, line 60 – column 4, line 32, with the alginate fiber being a semi-synthetic polysaccharide fiber. Court does not disclose that the synthetic textile fiber includes nanoparticles dispersed therein. Bastos is also related to fiber or filaments useful in textile article medical devices, such as wound dressings. See, e.g., Abstract, paragraphs [0019] to [0021], entire document. Bastos teaches that fibers or filaments comprising a polymer matrix can be provided with inorganic fillers uniformly dispersed therein to provide properties of absorption and/or emission in the far-infrared region, which can improve skin cicatrization. Paragraphs [0031] and [0032]. Bastos discloses that the inorganic filler can include elements such as titanium, silicon, magnesium, barium, calcium, or sodium, paragraphs [0041] to [0047], and have nano-sized dimensions. Paragraphs [0060] and [0061]. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to provide the synthetic textile fiber disclosed by Court with nanoparticles comprising at least one element selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Ti, Ge, Zn, Al, Mg, Si, Cu, Ca, Fe, Ba, K, Na, Mn, Ni, Ga, Pt, and combinations thereof, in order to provide the fiber with absorption and/or emission in the far-infrared region in order to improve skin cicatrization of the wound dressing, as shown to be known in the art by Bastos. With regard to Claim 2, Court discloses using 3 denier fiber. Column 3, line 61 – column 4, line 1. With regard to Claims 3 and 4, Court discloses using a staple fiber length of 40 mm. Column 4, line 1. With regard to Claims 12 and 13, Court discloses the in-laid yarn comprises 0% to 80% of textile fiber and 20% to 100% of gel-forming fiber. Column 3, lines 6-11. In the case where the claimed ranges overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. M.P.E.P. 2144.05. With regard to Claim 19, Court discloses that chitosan fibers can be used in the wound dressing, column 2, line 39, which would provide hemostatic features to the wound dressing. Additionally, Bastos teaches the inorganic fillers provide hemostatic abilities to the wound dressing. Paragraphs [0010] and [0011].
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Court in view of Bastos as applied to Claim 16 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent No. 6,087,549 to Flick (“Flick”).
With regard to Claim 17, the combination of Court with Bastos does not disclose using metallic yarn in the wound dressing. Flick is also related to wound dressing materials formed using fibers to provide a textile construction. See, e.g., Abstract, entire document. Flick teaches that metallized fiber can be used in conjunction with non-metallized fiber to provide antimicrobial properties to a wound dressing. Column 3, lines 18-26 and column 5, lines 1-6. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to provide a metallic yarn into the textile product taught by the combination of Court with Bastos in order to provide antimicrobial features to the wound dressing in a predictable fashion, as shown to be known in the art by Flick.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0101643 to Gulino et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0082747 to Liang et al., and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0305092 to Bonnefin et al.
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JEREMY R. PIERCE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1789
/JEREMY R PIERCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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