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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Araujo Da Silva (US 2017/0198114) and further in view of Mougin (WO 2015/162053, of record).
Araujo da Silva is directed to a rubber composition designed for tire treads (Abstract). More particularly, an exemplary composition includes 100 phr of an ethylene-1,3 butadiene copolymer rubber (elastomer E1- claimed saturated diene elastomer) and 1.5 phr of sulphur (claimed crosslinking system). With further respect to said copolymer rubber, Araujo Da Silva teaches the inclusion of 71 mole % of ethylene units (Paragraph 120). Additionally, the rubber composition of Araujo da Silva includes silica and a silane coupling agent (Paragraphs 77 and 84). In such an instance, though, Araujo da Silva fails to teach the claimed silane coupling agent.
Mougin is similarly directed to a tire rubber composition including silica. Mougin teaches the use of the claimed silane coupling agent (formula I on Page 12) to provide an improved combination of strength, hysteresis, and Mooney viscosity. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to select the claimed silane coupling agent as the silane coupling agent in the rubber composition of Araujo da Silva for the benefits detailed above.
With respect to claims 2 and 16, Araujo da Silva teaches the use of 1,3-butadiene (Paragraph 65).
As to claims 3-5, 17, and 18, Araujo Da Silva teaches the inclusion of 71 mole % of ethylene units (Paragraph 120).
Regarding claim 6, Araujo da Silva teaches a random copolymer (Paragraph 27) and a random copolymer can be broadly viewed as a special case of a statistical copolymer.
With respect to claims 7 and 19, Araujo da Silva suggests the exclusive use of silica (Paragraph 77).
As to claims 8 and 9, G2 can include a group having between 1 and 18 carbon atoms and when n=0, an alkoxy group as required by the claimed invention would be present.
Regarding claim 10, G1 can be an alkyl group having between 1 and 18 carbon atoms.
With respect to claim 11, G4 can be a phenyl group (Ph is used in the exemplary agents listed on Page 13).
With respect to claims 12 and 13, an exemplary agent in Mougin includes the claimed Z group (Page 13, Line 36).
Regarding claim 14, a= 1, 2, or 3 (bottom of Page 12).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN R FISCHER whose telephone number is (571)272-1215. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-2:00.
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Justin Fischer
/JUSTIN R FISCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749 July 2, 2026
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