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 .
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 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 –
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.
Claim(s) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102((a)(1)) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Nielsen et al, EP 0465304A1.
Nielsen discloses a bicomponent fiber. The bicomponent fiber can include a polyester core, (see examples), and a sheath comprising a blend of a first and second polyethylene. One polyethylene can include a linear low density polyethylene, LLDPE. The LLDPE can have a density of 0.88g/cc to 0.945 t/cc. The LLDPE can have a melt flow rate of 5g/10min to 200 gm/10 min. The blend can further comprise an HDPE, high density polyethylene, wherein the HDPE has been grated with maleic anhydride. The HDPE has a melt flow rate of 5 g/10 min to 500 g/10, and a density 0.945 g/cc to 0.956g/cc. The ratio of HDPE to LLDPE can be 2/98 to 30/70. The maleic anhydride is present in an amount of 0.01-5 wt. percent of the HDPE. See page 4, lines 16-39. The melt flow index ratio would be from 0.4-1, which meets the limitations of less than 1.25. The fibers can be used to make a nonwoven fabric in combination with matrix fibers of cellulose. Page 5, lines 13-17. The cellulosic matrix fibers and the bicomponent fibers can each be present in equal amounts, (50 percent each). See page 7, lines 1-20.
Nielsen discloses a range of melt flow rate values for both polyethylene components in the blend which meet the claimed ratio value, but do not explicitly teach the claimed ratio value per se. However, in the event that the disclosure of values which would produce a ratio of 1, (each MFR can be 5g/10 min), is not considered sufficient to anticipate the claimed ratio, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have discovered the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation, since Nielsen teaches values of MFR which necessarily meet the claimed ratio of MFRs as claimed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH M IMANI whose telephone number is (571)272-1475. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Wednesday 7AM-7:30; Thursday 10AM -2 PM.
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/ELIZABETH M IMANI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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