The court upheld the denial of a patent claim on grounds of lack of inventiveness, affirming that minor amendments did not confer novelty over existing prior art as per Patents Act standards.

JUDGMENT :

N. SENTHILKUMAR, J.

Aggrieved by the impugned order dated 31.07.2024 passed by the Joint Controller of Patents and Designs, Indian Patent Office, Chennai, refusing the grant of a patent in respect of Patent Application No.202142059972, this application has been filed as a divisional application, divided out of Indian Patent Application No.201741044221, which is the parent application. A First Examination Report (in short 'FER') was issued on 07.03.2022. A response to the FER and an amended set of claims was submitted by the agent of the appellant on 05.09.2022. A hearing notice was issued by the Indian Patent Office on 10.10.2023. A written submission dated 18.12.2023, based on the reply to the first examination report was filed by the appellant. Subsequent to the hearing, the impugned order was passed by the respondent.

2. The Appellant has made the following amended claims: 

Claim 1: A fiber reinforced thermoplastic composition comprising:

a mixture of first thermoplastic and a second thermoplastic, wherein the first thermoplastic is un-plasticised polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the second thermoplastic is acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS); and at least one wetter continuous fiber uniformly incorporated in the mixture of the unplasticised polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the acrylonitrile-butadiene- styrene (ABS), wherein the fiber reinforced thermoplastic composition has a density between 1.3 g/cc to 1.7 g/cc and a flexural modulus of at least 4000 MPa.

Claim 2: The fiber reinforced thermoplastic composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein rubber content in the acrylonitrile-butadiene- styrene (ABS) is in a range of 10 to 80 percent by volume.

Claim 3: The fiber reinforced theremoplastic composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein volume percent of the continuous and chopped fiber to a total volume of un-plasticised PVC is 10% to 40%.

Claim 4: The fiber reinforced thermoplastic composition as claimed in claim 1 having a flexural strength of at least 100 Mpa.

Claim 5: The fiber reinforced Thermoplastic composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one wetted continuous fiber comprises one or more liquids or additives that accumulate over the at least one wetted continuous fiber .

Claim 6: The fiber reinforced thermoplastic composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more liquids or additives encapsulate the at least one wetted continuous fiber.

Claim 7: A process of preparing a fiber reinforced thermoplastic, the process comprising:

melting a first thermoplastic and a second thermoplastic in a melting zone of a twin-screw processor, wherein the first thermoplastic is un-plasticised polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the second thermoplastic is acrylonitrile- butadiene-styrene(ABC);

feeding at least one continuous fiber downstream of the melting zone into a melted mixture of the unplasticised polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABC), Wherein the feeding comprises wetting the at least one continuous fiber before mixing with the melted mixture of the unplasticised polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the acrylonitrile- butadiene-styrene(ABC); incorporating the at least one wetted continuous fiber into the melted mixture in a mixing zone, the mixing zone including only wave elements having a continuous outer surface in the form of a helical wave such that the at least one wetted continuous fibe