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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on September 30, 2025 and December 17, 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomita (JP2019-157042; machine translation relied upon) in view of Mihara (JP2015-183061; machine translation relied upon) as evidenced by Mihara II (JP2016-104840; machine translation relied upon).
Regarding claim 1, Tomita teaches a tire rubber composition comprising a diene rubber, silica, a silane coupling agent, and an alkanediol (machine translation at page 2, first paragraph), where the silica is not particularly limited, can be prepared by a dry method or a wet method (machine translation at page 3), with an amount of the silane coupling agent being preferably 1% to 20% by mass (machine translation at page 4, second paragraph) and an amount of the alkanediol being preferably 1% to 20% by mass (machine translation at page 3, second paragraph), with a specific embodiment using a silane coupling agent of Si69 (bis (3-triethoxysilylpropyl) tetrasulfide (machine translation at page 7, last paragraph) and an alkanediol of 1,2-decanediol (machine translation at page 8, first paragraph). Tomita does not specifically disclose that the silica is a fumed silica having a surface silanol group density of 3 groups/nm2 or less. Mihara teaches the use of dry silica QS-30 (taken to be the claimed fumed silica) having a specific surface area of 300 m2/g (machine translation at page 6). Mihara II teaches that QS-30 has a number of hydroxy groups (silanol groups) on the surface of 1.5/nm2, falling within the claimed range (machine translation at page 6). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use QS-30 dry silica as taught by Mihara in the rubber composition of Tomita in order to have a rubber composition with good mixing processability, excellent at reinforcement and having low rolling resistance (see Mihara machine translation at page 7, second paragraph). The formula to calculate content in μmol/m2 is (X * 104) / (MW x S), where X is the additive in mass% of silica, MW is molecular weight in g/mol, and S is BET in m2/g. Accordingly, Si69 has a molecular weight of 532 g/mol, resulting in a range of silane coupling agent content of from .063 ((1 * 104) / (532 x 300)) to 1.25 μmol/m2 ((20 * 104) / (532 x 300)), overlapping the claimed range of 0.5 to 3.9. 1,2-decanediol has a molecular weight of 174.28 g/mol, resulting in a range of content of diol of from 0.19 ((1 * 104) / (174.28 x 300)) to 3.83 μmol/m2 ((20 * 104) / (174.28 x 300)), overlapping the claimed range of 3 to 14. “In the case where the claimed ranges ‘overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art’ a prima facie case of obviousness exists.” MPEP at 2144.05 citing In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976).
Regarding claim 2, Si69 set forth above is a sulfide-based silane coupling agent.
Regarding claim 3, Tomita teaches a range of silica of preferably 30 to 120 parts by mass with respect to 100 mass parts of rubber components (machine translation at page 3, second to last paragraph), overlapping the claimed range.
Regarding claim 4, as was set forth above, the fumed silica has a surface area of 300 m2/g, falling within the claimed range.
Regarding claim 5, Mihara II teaches that QS-30 is an untreated silica (machine translation at page 6).
Regarding claim 6, Tomita teaches vulcanizing the rubber composition set forth above (machine translation at page 7).
Conclusion
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/P.N.S/ Examiner, Art Unit 1749 July 28, 2026
/JUSTIN R FISCHER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749
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