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.
Claims 12-13, 16, 20 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson et al. (US 2008/0254308) in view of Scheibelhoffer et al. (US 6,455,171).
Regarding claims 12-13 and 16, Thomasson discloses multilayer thermoformable structure (paragraph 0014) comprising one thermoplastic polyolefin based layer (paragraphs 0010 and 0030), one acrylic based cap layer, i.e. polar polymer, having a thickness of from 0.04 mm to 3 mm (paragraphs 0013, 0061) and comprising acrylic polymer containing up to 40% by weight of butyl acrylate, i.e. C1-8 straight alkyl acrylate, and 60% or more methyl methacrylate (paragraphs 0050-0052) and a tie layer having a thickness of from 0.1 mm to 2 mm (paragraph 0061) wherein the tie layer contains blend of styrenic block copolymer with vinyl cyanide containing component (paragraphs 0010-0011) wherein the tie layer is directly adjacent to, adhering to, and in between the polyolefin based layer and the polar polymer based layer (abstract, paragraph 0018). Therefore, Tie layer of Thomasson does not meet the claimed tie layer limitation. Further, Thomasson discloses at least one acrylate based cap layer (abstract, 0010), therefore it is clear that when more than one cap layer is present, one cap layer corresponds to the polar polymer based layer as explained above and the other cap layer corresponds to a layer of polymer adhered on a side way from the tie layer and polyolefin based layer.
Scheibelhoffer, in the analogous field of multilayer thermoformable structures (column 1, lines 45-50), discloses a tie layer composition which is used to connect an acrylic-based capstock layer (column 2, lines 45-50) to a polyolefin core layer (column 4, lines 15-20). The tie layer composition includes a blend of SB diblock, i.e. one styrene butadiene copolymer different from the styrenic block copolymer, and SEBS, i.e. one styrenic block copolymer containing one olefinic monomeric unit selected from ethylene, (col 7, line 55-57 and col 8, line 20-40). Given that Scheibelhoffer does not disclose vinyl cyanide containing compound, it is clear that Scheibelhoffer excludes a vinyl cyanide containing compound.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the tie layer composition of Thomasson for the tie layer composition of Scheibelhoffer, as the tie layer composition of Scheibelhoffer offers excellent adhesion between an acrylic capstock layer and polyolefin-based core layer (column 11, lines 20-25 and table 3).
Given that Thomasson in view of Scheibelhoffe discloses the same tie layer composition as presently claimed, it is clear that the tie layer of Thomasson in view of Scheibelhoffer would intrinsically possess the same properties as presently claim.
Regarding claim 20, Thomasson in view of Scheibelhoffer discloses the structure of claim 12, wherein the tie layer includes a blend of two styrenic block copolymers (column 6, lines 30-34, column 7, lines 12-13).
Regarding claim 22, Thomasson in view of Scheibelhoffer discloses the structure of claim 12, wherein the blend of copolymer contains styrene copolymer having less than 50 weight % bound vinyl aromatic monomer and block copolymer having greater than 60 weight % bound vinyl aromatic monomer (column 6, lines 30-34, column 7, lines 12-13).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/08/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant states that neither Thomasson nor Scheibelhoffer teaches or suggest amended claim 12 feature. However, it is noted that Thomasson in view of Scheibelhoffer does disclose the amended claim as explained above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMIR SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-1143. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am - 5:00pm.
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/SAMIR SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
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