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 .
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 1-19 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.
Amended claim 1 is rejected as being vague and indefinite when it recites each of ”x and y are each independently ≥ 1” and “m and n are each independently ≥ 1” (emphasis added); the scope of the protection sought is not clear, in part as the upper limit is unlimited. Amended claim 1 fails to particularly point out and distinctly claim each of the integers x, y, m, and n in the compound of formula I contained in the claimed polymerizable liquid crystal material.
Amended claim 7 is rejected as being vague and indefinite when it recites “X is halogen, preferably F or Cl” (emphasis added); the scope of the protection sought is not clear. A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claim 7 recites the broad recitation that the substituent “X is halogen”, and the claim also recites “preferably F or Cl” which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims. Amended claim 7 fails to particularly point out and distinctly claim the substituent X in the compound of formula MRM contained in the claimed polymerizable liquid crystal material.
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 § 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.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mulcahy et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11,697,769) in view of Qu et al. ("Tetramethyl-6-decyne-5,8-diol polyoxyethylene: Their dynamic surface activity and dynamic spreading behavior in solutions", 17 February 2017, Journal of Molecular Liquids, Vol. 232, pp. 265-268).
Mulcahy et l. discloses a polymerizable liquid crystal material, the corresponding method of preparation thereof said polymerizable liquid crystal material, the corresponding use thereof polymerizable liquid crystal material to form a polymer film as well as the process for the preparation thereof said polymer film, as well as the corresponding use thereof said polymerizable liquid crystal material in a component and/or device, characterized in that said polymerizable liquid crystal material preferably (column 73, line 1) comprises a combination of compounds inclusive of the compounds of the present claims:
at least one reactive mesogenic compound inclusive of the reactive mesogenic compound of the present formula RMT as recited in the present claim 3, as generally represented therein by
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(column 18, line 57; claim 1);
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula DRM as recited in the present claim 5, as generally represented therein by
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(column 42, line 25; claim 5);
at least one compound inclusive of the compound of the present formula MRM as recited in the present claim 7, as generally represented therein by
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(column 43, line 64; claim 7);
at least one chiral compound inclusive of the chiral compounds of the present formulae CRMa, CRMb, and CRMc as recited in the present claim 8, as generally respectively represented therein by
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(column 48, line 54; claim 8); and
at least one surface-active agent compound (column 61, line 13; claim 9). While the Examples therein (beginning in column 78, line 15), expressly illustrate the inventive polymerizable liquid crystal material comprising the aforementioned compounds with a surfactant, Mulcahy et al. does not teach the acetylene glycol surfactant of the present formula I.
Qu et al. teaches an acetylene glycol of the present formula I, as represented therein by
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and the benefits therefrom the use of the said compounds as surfactants.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the requisite art at the time the invention was filed to utilize an acetylene glycol compound of the present formula I, as taught in Qu et al., in the polymerizable liquid crystal material of Mulcahy et al., with reasonable expectations of achieving, absent object evidence to the contrary, the advantages taught therein, as well as those associated with the use of the acetylene glycol compound of formula I.
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. 2025/0250487, which teaches a liquid crystal polymer film containing an acetylene glycol encompassing the compound of formula I, as represented therein by
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; and theMachine translation of JP 2008-304820, cited in the IDS filed 4 March 2025, which teaches an acetylene glycol encompassing the compound of formula I, as represented therein by
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.
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GERALDINA VISCONTI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1737
/GERALDINA VISCONTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737