Ex Parte Fernandez et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardJul 25, 201612371885 (P.T.A.B. Jul. 25, 2016) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 12/371,885 02/16/2009 23657 7590 07/27/2016 SERVILLA WHITNEY LLC/BASF 33 WOOD A VE SOUTH SUITE 830 !SELIN, NJ 08830 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Ana Maria Fernandez UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. U0321US3(CGG0050-01CP) 8605 EXAMINER KARST, DAVID THOMAS ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 1767 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 07/27/2016 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address( es): docket@dsiplaw.com spedersen@dsiplaw.com jescobar@dsiplaw.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PA TENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte ANA MARIA FERNANDEZ, 1 Michael Allen, Richard Crews, and Loubna Jebbanema Appeal2015-000034 Application 12/371,885 Technology Center 1700 Before PETER F. KRATZ, JEFFREY T. SMITH, and MARK NAGUMO, Administrative Patent Judges. NAGUMO, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Ana Maria F emandez, Michael Allen, Richard Crews, and Loubna Jebbanema ("BASF") timely appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from 1 The real parties in interest are identified as Cognis IP Management GmbH, and BASF SE ("BASF"), which acquired Cognis IP Management GmbH. (Appeal Brief, filed 17 April 2014 ("Br."), 3, 11. 1-2.) Appeal2015-000034 Application 12/371,885 the Final Rejection2 of claims 1-6, 8-14, and 20-24, as amended after the Final Rejection. 3 We have jurisdiction. 35 U.S.C. § 6. We affirm. OPINION A. Introduction4 The subject matter on appeal relates to a surfactant composition (Spec. 2, 1. 28). This composition comprises: (a) at least one alkoxylated glycol ether; and (b) at least one compound in accordance with Formula VII represented by the chemical structure reproduced below: OH OH (VII) where xis from about 1 to about 100, each R4 is independently Hor an alkyl moiety having from about 1 to about 2 carbon atoms, provided that the total number of carbon atoms within each x unit is not greater than about 8 2 Office action mailed 09 August 2013 ("Final Rejection"; cited as "FR"). 3 An amendment and response under 3 7 C.F .R. § 1.116 was filed on 9 December 2013. The amendments to the claims were entered, and the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112 (b) were withdrawn. (Advisory Action, mailed 17 December 2013). Thus, the pending claims are those amended in the amendment and response under 3 7 C.F .R. 1.116, filed on 9 December 2013. 4 Application 12/371,855, Surfactant Compositions and Methods of Forming and Using Same, filed 16 February 2009, is a CIP of 11/869,185, filed 09 October 2007, now abandoned, which claims benefit of 60/853,344, filed 10/20/2006 and claims benefit of 60/856,638, filed 03 November 2006. We refer to the '"855 Specification," which we cite as "Spec." 2 Appeal2015-000034 Application 12/371,885 (id. at 2, 11. 30-3, 1. 8). According to the Specification, "[c]ompounds in accordance with Formula VII are generally known and can be prepared by know[ n] methods, including for example by polymerization of alkylene oxide, such as ethylene oxide" (id. at 11, 1. 26, to 12, 1. 1 ). The Specification also discloses that these compounds include oligomers and polymers having a molecular mass of preferably below 10,000 g/mol. (Id. at 11, 11. 25-27.) One preferred compound embraced by Formula VII is a polyalkylene glycol. (Id. at 12, 11. 1-2). The '885 Specification teaches that the surfactant composition may be added to emulsion polymerization reactions of ethylenically unsaturated monomers (id. at 16, 11. 16-28; 1, 11. 10-22). The surfactant composition is also said to be useful in home and personal care products such as detergent formulations (id. at 17, 11. 28-30). Representative Claim 1 reads: A surfactant composition comprising, by weight based on the total composition, (a) from about 20% to about 95% of at least one alkoxylated glycol ether comprising one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of compounds in accordance with Formula III, Formula IV, or combinations thereof ----·-n ... ..t---- •t ~ (' :;,_·, t t"" L r""•. ~~ R~Oiv,,,,u ... v;d<"' ... A .. ··n .. m nu} where R 1 is a saturated or unsaturated, branched aliphatic moiety having from 6 to 22 carbon atoms, R3 is H, a substituted or unsubstituted benzyl moiety, or an alkyl moiety having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, n represents a value from 0 to about 100, and m represents a value from 0 to about 100, provided that the sum of n+m is from 1 to about 200, 3 Appeal2015-000034 Application 12/371,885 ., 8.::__.Hr'--t""'.H. ,R3 J~ l. /J r;,, H 0J.. 1 1--t"~ " ..... l . ,...:--H-... --1 ':! :·· --r-'21-i4,~~'Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation