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 .
Priority
The present application is a National Stage entry of International application PCT/EP2023/071260 filed 08/01/2023, which claims the benefit of Foreign application EP22189840.6 filed 08/11/2022. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Status of the Application
Receipt is acknowledged of Applicant’s claimed invention, filed 01/22/2025, in the matter of Application N° 18/997,677. Said documents have been entered on the record. The Examiner further acknowledges the following:
Claims 1, 6-7, 9-11, and 13 are pending.
Claims 1, 6-7, 9-11, and 13 are presented for examination and rejected as set forth below.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 6-7, and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (US20090068255A1).
Applicant’s claims are directed to an emulsion deodorant composition comprising; (i) a dispersed aqueous phase in a continuous oily phase comprising a liquid oil; (ii) a deodorant active system comprising a zinc neodecanoate and a polyquaternium compound which is polyquaterium-6; and(iii) an emulsifier.
Note that the “dispersed aqueous phase in a continuous oily phase comprising liquid oil” of claim 1(i) is a description of a formulation that is representative of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, as defined in Applicant’s specification (pg 4, paragraph 2), and so a teaching of W/O emulsions reads on this language. In terms of search, note that polyquaternium-6 has different nomenclature in the literature that was considered, such as PQ-6, poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride, poly-DADMAC, PDADMAC, Quaternium-40, Merquat 100, Calgon Polymer 261, etc.
Yu teaches cosmetic compositions that improve the condition of skin (abstract), and further contemplates all variations that are typical of topical cosmetics, that involves a method of topical administration to the surface of the skin [0010-0013].
Regarding claims 1 and 9: Yu teaches a W/O composition (reads on claim 1(i), as discussed above) [0012] comprising zinc neodecanoate (reads on claim 1(ii)) [0125], and Polyquaternium-6 (reads on claim 1(ii)) [0128] and an emulsifier (reads on claim 1(iii)) [0130], including nonionic surfactants/emulsifiers (reads on claim 9) [0130-0133].
Regarding claims 6-7: Yu teaches thickening agents [0135] and the form of a stick, semi-solid dispersed system, etc. [0012], in which a solid cosmetic stick is found in Example 25 [0218-0219].
Regarding claim 10: Based on the interpretation of Yu’s broadest claim (Yu – claim 49), Yu does not require cyclopentasiloxane (Yu – claim 49).
Regarding claim 11: Yu teaches incorporation of fragrances [0013].
In summary, Yu teaches the elements and desirability for the components for the instant composition, as described above, and thus, its obviousness. It must be remembered that “[w]hen a patent simply arranges old elements with each performing the same function it had been known to perform and yields no more than one would expect from such an arrangement, the combination is obvious.” KSR v. Teleflex, 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1740 (2007) (quoting Sakraida v. A.G. Pro, 425 U.S. 273, 282 (1976)). “[W]hen the question is whether a patent claiming the combination of elements of prior art is obvious,” the relevant question is “whether the improvement is more than the predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions.” (Id.). Thus, Yu teaches the combination of art-known elements (i.e., the instant ingredients of claim 1) according to their disclosed beneficial properties (i.e., skin improving properties) with the resultant product nothing more than one would expect from their combination (i.e., functional topical skin product).
Claims 1, 6-7, 9-11, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (US20090068255A1), as applied to claims 1, 6-7, and 9-11, and in further view of Brooks (US20200046619A1; patent family member of WO2018087147A1, that is referenced in Applicant’s Specification) and Traupe (WO2016012417A2; machine translation provided; referenced in Applicant’s Specification).
As discussed above, Yu teaches the instant composition comprising zinc neodecanoate and polyquaternium-6, that may be in emulsion and/or stick form, as obvious, and furthermore, a method of treatment by topical delivery of the cosmetic composition [0011-0013].
However, Yu does not teach the explicit method outcome of deodorancy benefit (instant claim 13).
Brooks teaches a deodorizing compositions containing zinc neodecanoate, that provides deodorancy benefit (abstract), whereby zinc neodecanoate is a deodorizing agent [0089].
Traupe teaches deodorant preparations, comprising polyquaternium polymers, as active deodorant substance (abstract), including the preferred polyquaternium-6 polymer (PQ-6) (Traupe – claim 8), which is defined as a polymeric quaternary ammonium salt formed from the homopolymerization of the diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC) monomer [0017].
It would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yu’s method to target subjects that desire a deodorancy benefit, as taught by Brooks and Traupe, because Brooks teaches zinc neodecanoate (which is taught in Yu’s topical compositions) is a deodorizing agent, and Traupe additionally teaches polyquaternium-6 as a deodorizing agent, whereby deodorizing is a process that removes unwanted odors. Furthermore, Yu is directed to general skin care (abstract), and is invested in improvement of general skin smell as a secondary benefit (i.e., via incorporation of fragrances and perfumes [0013]), using stick formulations [0013].
Thus, the compositions of Yu that select zinc neodecanoate and polyquaternium-6 would be expected to have good deodorizing properties, according to the teachings of Brooks and Traupe, because each ingredient has a deodorizing effect and furthermore, the additive effect of combining two deodorizing substances into one composition would lead to a predictable effect of an additive deodorizing benefit for a topical cosmetic product.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAJAN PRAGANI whose telephone number is (703)756-5319. The examiner can normally be reached 7a-5p EST (M-Th).
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/R.P./Examiner, Art Unit 1614 8/20/2026
/ALI SOROUSH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1614
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