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 after final amendment filed May 12, 2026 in which claims 1, 4, 7-9, 11 and 14-16 were amended.
The indicated allowability of claims 11-18 is withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference(s) to MacPherson (US 20090031614) and the reevaluation of the primary references. Rejections based on the newly cited reference(s) follow.
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, 3, 4, 8-11,13,14 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Parlman (US 4322304-appears on the PTO-1449) in view of MacPherson (US 20090031614-appears on the current PTO-892).
Parlman teaches fuel compositions comprising hydrocarbon fuel and bis(disubstituted aminomethyl)phenols (see abstract; col. 1, lines 7-16, col. 3, lines 1-3). The phenol compounds have the following formulae:
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The compounds render obvious those of the present invention when in Parlman R is H and R1 and R2 are alkyl radicals having 1 to 6 carbon atoms. R1 and R2 also may be taken together to be part of a cyclic group containing oxygen (see col. 2, lines 10-57). In the present invention m and p are each 0, n is 2, R1 and R2 are H and R3 and R4 are hydrocarbyl or part of a cyclic group. The second compound of Parlman would render obvious 4-(tert-butyl)-2,6-bis(dimethylamino)methyl phenol of claims 4 and 14 when R1 and R2 of Parlman are methyl and R in the fourth position is tert-butyl. Parlman meets the limitations of the claims other than the differences that are set forth below.
Parlman does not specifically teach the method for preventing or reducing low speed pre-ignition events in a spark-ignited internal combustion engine. However, it would be reasonable to expect that Parlman would meet this limitation because he uses the fuel composition in the same environment as the present invention, i.e., for a combustion engine or fuel additive for a combustion engine. Therefore, if the present additive performs the claimed functions of preventing and reducing low speed pre-ignition events in engines then the skilled artisan would expect that Parlman would also performs these functions.
Parlman does not specifically teach a secondary additive that is an acid, phenol, antioxidant or salicylate. However, MacPherson teaches this difference.
Macpherson teaches a gasoline fuel composition for internal combustion engines that includes various additives (see abstract; para 0008; 0093; 0127).
The additives include antioxidants that may be phenols (para 0160); detergents that may be salicylates (see para 0220); and friction modifiers that may carboxylic acids (see para 0250).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the above additives because Parlman is using a formulated gasoline that is used in an internal combustion engine. The skilled artisan recognizing that gasolines used in internal combustion engines contain conventional additives such as those set forth in the claims as the secondary additive would be motivated to add such additives to the gasoline composition for the additives to perform their attendant function.
Claims 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fareri (US 2,755,175-appears on previous PTO-892) in view of MacPherson (US 20090031614-appears on present PTO-892).
Fareri teaches gasoline containing 2,4,6-tri-(dimethylaminomethyl)phenol. The compound prevents or suppresses discoloration and the formation of gummy substances during storage or use (see col. 1, lines 15-19 and Table 1). The phenol compound may be combined with other additives that are normally added to gasolines without adversely affecting the desirable properties of the phenol (see col. 4, lines 5-10).
Fareri does not specifically teach the method for preventing or reducing low speed pre-ignition events in a spark-ignited internal combustion engine. However, it would be reasonable to expect that Fareri would meet this limitation because he teaches using the fuel, which would suggest a spark-ignited engine. Hence, the additive is used in the same environment as the present invention, i.e., fuel additive for a combustion engine. Therefore, if the present additive performs the claimed functions of preventing and reducing low speed pre-ignition events in engines then the skilled artisan would expect that Fareri would also performs these functions.
Fareri does not specifically teach a secondary additive that is an acid, phenol, antioxidant or salicylate. However, MacPherson teaches this difference.
Macpherson teaches a gasoline fuel composition for internal combustion engines that includes various additives (see abstract; para 0008; 0093; 0127).
The additives include antioxidants that may be phenols (para 0160); detergents that may be salicylates (see para 0220); and friction modifiers that may carboxylic acids (see para 0250).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have included one of the above additives because Fareri teaches that he may add 2,4,6-tri-(dimethylaminomethyl) phenol to gasoline for the purpose specified either alone or in conjunction with other additives normally added to gasoline (see col. 4, lines 5-10) and MacPherson teaches that the secondary additives of the present claims are additives that are normally added to gasoline.
Claims 2, 7, 12 and 15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The prior art does not teach or suggest a carboxyl group as R5 or that the secondary additive is 2-ethylhexanoic acid or 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]-undeca-7-ene.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CEPHIA D TOOMER whose telephone number is (571)272-1126. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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/CEPHIA D TOOMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771 18975959/20260519
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