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 responsive to the Amendment and Remarks filed 28 October 2025. Claims 1-16 remain pending and presently under consideration in this application.
Response to Amendment
The rejection of claims under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112(pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as set forth in paragraph 4 of the previous office action on the merits, is hereby withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendment to the same.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 28 October 2025 with respect to the rejection of claims over each of Huang et al. (U.S. Patent No. 12,104,109) and Laut et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0067879), as respectively set forth in paragraphs 7 and 8 of the previous office action on the merits, said argument to the effect that the rejections are moot in view of applicants’ statement of common ownership pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C), have been fully considered and are persuasive. The aforementioned rejections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments filed 28 October 2025 with respect to the alleged allowability of the claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-16, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hirschmann et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0272282).
Hirschmann et al. discloses a liquid crystal medium and the corresponding use thereof said liquid crystal medium in a liquid crystal display, characterized in that said liquid crystal medium preferably comprises at least one compound of the present formula I, i.e., CC-4-V1 ([0478], p. 87) and at least one compound of the present formula CPY, i.e., CPY-2-O2 ([0473], p. 87). The inventive liquid crystal medium of Hirschmann et al. further comprises a combination of compounds inclusive of the compounds of the present claims:
at least one compound inclusive of the compounds of the present formulae IIA, IIB, IIC, and IID, as respectively represented therein by
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555
423
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([0076], p. 5+),
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula III as recited in claim 2, as generally represented therein by
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124
387
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([0028], p. 3+),
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula VI as recited in claim 3, as generally represented therein by
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136
413
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([0158], p. 36),
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formulae Z-1 thru Z-8 as recited in claim 5, as generally respectively represented therein by
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123
373
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113
367
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124
386
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129
403
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119
391
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119
393
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120
517
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and
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129
418
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([0171], p. 40],
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula IV as recited in claim 6, as generally represented therein by
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86
392
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([0118], p. 28), and
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula IVb-1 to IVb-3 as recited in claim 7, as respectively represented therein by
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237
390
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([0143], p. 31),
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula V/V-1/V-2/V-3 as recited in claims 8 and 9, as generally represented therein by
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109
406
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([0149], p. 32),
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula CL as recited in claim 10, as generally represented therein by
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295
417
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([0196], p. 47),
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula S as recited in claim 12, as generally represented therein by
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118
306
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([0198], p. 48), and
at least one polymerizable compound as recited in claim 13, as generally represented therein by the compounds of formulae R1 through R32 therein ([0374], p. 80+).
In fact, the following examples therein expressly illustrates the combination of at least one compound of the present formula I, i.e., CC-4-V1, and at least one compound of the present formula CPY, i.e., CPY-2-O2, with at least one of the aforementioned additional compounds: M28 (p. 133), M43 & M44 (p. 135), M45-M47 (p. 136), M62 (p. 138), M72 (p. 141), M82 (p. 142), M85-M86 (p. 142), M88 (p. 190), and M90 (p. 190).
Prior Art
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0215322, which is the pre-grant publication corresponding to the present application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Geraldina Visconti whose telephone number is (571)272-1334. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm.
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GERALDINA VISCONTI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1737
/GERALDINA VISCONTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737