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 .
Claims 1-17 are pending.
Claims 1-17 have been examined.
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 11 and 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.
Claims 11 and 17 recite “the COR agent.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bulpett et al. (US 7358308) (“Bulpett”). Bulpett discloses a golf ball having at least one layer formed from a composition comprising the reaction product of: a base rubber (paragraph 0038); from 5 phr to 50 phr of a crosslinking coagent selected from metal salts of acrylates, diacrylates, methacrylates, and dimethacrylates (paragraph 0115); from 0.1 phr to 5.0 phr of an organic peroxide (paragraph 0045: “the amount of the total initiators (organic peroxide) may be 0.1 phr or greater, or 0.2 or greater, or 0.5 phr or greater, or 0.8 phr or greater, preferably 10 phr or less, or 5 phr or less, or 2 phr or less, or 1 phr or less”); and from 0.1 phr to 5 phr of a COR agent (paragraph 0005) selected from zinc 2-mercaptotoluimidazole, zinc 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate, zinc diethyldithiocarbamate, zinc dibutyldithiocarbamate (paragraph 0064 discusses the COR additives may include zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate or zinc 2-mercaptotoluimidazole), and combinations of two or more thereof; wherein the composition is substantially free of organosulfur compounds other than the COR agent (the disclosure does not discuss necessary inclusion of organosulfur compounds outside of the COR additive).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 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.
Claims 10 and 12-16 are allowed.
Claims 11 and 17 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art reference of Bulpett fails to teach
wherein the COR agent is a combination of zinc 2-mercaptotoluimidazole and zinc 2-mercaptobenzothiazole.
Further, there is no teaching, suggestion or motivation to modify the prior art absent hindsight.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY J BRINDLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-7231. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm.
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, David Dunn can be reached at 5712726670. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TIMOTHY J BRINDLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3636
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