Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1 The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
2 Claim 1 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites the limitation “A method or coloring”
Claim 1, should be recites “A method of coloring” or “ A method for coloring” . Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3 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.
4 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 1-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Foote et al. (US 20190002649 A1).
Foote et al. (US’ 649 A1) teaches a method for dyeing ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) (see abstract), wherein the method comprises the step of gel spinning of polyethylene filaments (see page 3, paragraph, 0027), drawing the filaments under higher temperature (drying) (see page 3, paragraph, 0028), contacting the article with the supercritical liquid of carbon dioxide and the dye mixture in an apparatus for dyeing the article (see page 4, paragraphs, 0043-0046 and page 5, paragraphs, 0054-0055) and drawn polyethylene fibers having a tensile strength of at least 0.7 GPa and a tensile modulus of at least 7 GPa and the article is post-drawn after dyeing as claimed in claims 1 and 6-8 (see page 4, paragraph, 0039), wherein the method also comprises tightly wind a number of layers of the fibers as claimed in claim 2 (see page 4, paragraph, 0040 and page 5, paragraph, 0062), and it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art to wind fiber onto spool between step (b) and step (c) to optimize the formation of the fiber into a yarn for dyeing. The method teaches a spool and a roller (see paragraph, 0062), wherein the dye autoclave may include means for the fluid flow through the yarn spool, the autoclave can be formed so that it can receive yarn spool columns and/or a flat product wound (see page 5, paragraph, 0062), and based on the teaching of Foote et al. (US’ 649 A1), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to employ the spool and roller to unwind the fiber from the spool to provide the fibers as a flat product as claimed in claims 3, 4 and 5. The method also comprises the step of using a dye D&C Violet #2 (anthraquinone dye) as claimed 9-11 (see page 1, paragraph, 0010), wherein the method also comprises the step of twisting the fibers as claimed in claim 12 (see page 3, paragraph, 0036), the method also teaches that the article includes a multifilament yarns, stable fiber yarns, stripes and films (see page 2, paragraph, 0019) which implies that the fibers comprise a plurality of fibers formed togethers as a bundle as claimed in claim 13. Wherein the method also teaches step of contacting the article with the supercritical liquid of carbon dioxide and the dye mixture in an apparatus for dyeing the article as claimed in claims in 14-17 (see page 4, paragraphs, 0043-0046 and page 5, paragraphs, 0054-0055), wherein the method also teaches that the supercritical liquid is circulated to flow through a chamber or autoclave containing the article therein as claimed in claim 20 (see page 2, paragraphs, 0013-0014).
Foote et al. (US’ 649 A1) teaches a method for dyeing ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene comprising the steps that overlapped with the method’s steps that recited in claims 1-17 and 20.
However, based on the teaching of Foote et al. (US’ 649 A1), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to apply and utilize the method of dyeing ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene as taught by Foote et al. (US’ 649 A1) to arrive at the claimed invention. Such a modification would be obvious based on the teaching of Foote et al. (US’ 649 A1) that referred to the method for dyeing ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene by using super critical carbon dioxide (CO2) as a solvent and a dyeing compound of anthraquinone derivative as described above, and, thus, the person of the ordinary skill in the art would expect such a method that use similar solvent and similar dye compound for dying similar article of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene would results in dyeing product that should have similar dyeing property to those claimed, absent unexpected results.
Allowable Subject Matter
5 Claims 18 and 19 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. The closest prior art of record (US 20190002649 A1) does not teach or disclose a method for coloring an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene comprising a step of enclosing the dye in a semi-permeable pouch and placing the pouch in the dyeing vessel and filling the vessel with CO2 to a desired pressure and a desired temperature to form scCO2 as claimed in claim 18 and 19.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EISA B ELHILO whose telephone number is (571)272-1315. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM.
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/EISA B ELHILO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
