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
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (CN101290473, herein Yang, a machine translation is being used for citation purpose).
Regarding Claims 1, 3, 4, 7, Yang teaches photosensitive resin composition comprising: 6% to 60% by weight of a photocurable resin, 0.05% to 10% by weight of a photo initiator and 32% to 85% by weight of an organic solvent [0073], in order to improve adhesion [0023], which comprising: acrylic resin containing both unsaturated groups capable of free radical polymerization [0071] such as dipropylene glycol diacrylate [0023] which is multifunctional (meth)acrylate and reads on the ethylenically unsaturated free radical polymerizable compound; photoinitiators, 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide [0048]; 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-p-hydroxyethyl ether phenyl acetone [0056] both read on the free radical initiators; 32%-85% organic solvent [0076], isopropanol [0047] which reads on volatile organic solvent.
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have utilized amounts 0.05% to 10% by weight of a photo initiator with a reasonable expectation of success, and would have been motivated to do as Yang discloses that such amounts are suitable for the invention.
Regarding Claim 8, Yang teaches photosensitive resin composition is used to improving the toughness and strength of the film layer or the spacer [0071], which reads on adhesion-promoting interlayer.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (CN101290473, herein Yang, a machine translation is being used for citation purpose) as applied in the claim 1 above, in the view of Sawant (US20060270796, herein Sawant).
Regarding Claim 6, Yang teaches the adhesion-promoting composition as set forth above in claim 1. Yang teaches acrylic resin containing both unsaturated groups capable of free radical polymerization [0071] such as dipropylene glycol diacrylate [0023] which is multifunctional (meth)acrylate and reads on the ethylenically unsaturated free radical polymerizable compound. Yang is silent on the polythiol, however, Sawant teaches polymeric polythiols [0033]. Yang and Sawant are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor, that of the photocurable adhesion resin composition formation toward processability and flexibility. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of add the polymeric polythiols [0033] into the composition, and the motivation to do so would have been the curable compositions of the present invention can exhibit good low temperature flexibility [0104].
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (CN101290473, herein Yang, a machine translation is being used for citation purpose) as applied to claim 1 above, in the view of Sawant (US20060270796, herein Sawant) and Virnelson (US20170044399, herein Virnelson).
Regarding Claim 9, Yang teaches the adhesion-promoting composition as set forth above in claim 1. Yang does not teach the drying the applied adhesion-promoting composition, however, Sawant teaches the evacuation of the reaction mixture at 70° C./7-8 mmHg for 0.5 hour [0110] indicating drying of the adhesion composition. Yang and Sawant are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor, that of the photocurable adhesion resin composition formation toward processability and flexibility. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of add the evacuation of the reaction mixture at 70° C./7-8 mmHg for 0.5 hour [0110] into the product formation, and the motivation to do so would have been the lead to the composition product exhibit good low temperature flexibility [0104].
Yang is silent on sulfur-containing sealant layer; however, Virnelson teaches sulfur-containing prepolymer for sealant applications [0190]. Virnelson further teaches that following application to the curable coating, the barrier coating can be exposed to UV radiation to cure the barrier coating [0195] indicating as claimed free radical polymerization of the sulfur-containing sealant composition to cure the sulfur-containing sealant composition. Yang and Virnelson are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor, that of the photocurable acrylate-based adhesion resin composition formation. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add sulfur-containing prepolymer for sealant applications [0190]. following application to the curable coating, the barrier coating can be exposed to UV radiation to cure the barrier coating [0195] into the product formation, because doing so would further achieve the optimized product process with desired properties of “cured sealants prepared using the sulfur-containing prepolymers maintain acceptable properties such as adhesion, tensile strength, elongation, and hardness, following exposure to aviation fuel and/or high temperature” [0069].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 8/25/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Yang (CN101290473, herein Yang, a machine translation is being used for citation purpose).
Yang teaches the adhesion-promoting composition and the ranges as set forth above in the new rejection.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Zhen Liu whose telephone number is (703)756-4782. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/Z.L./
Examiner, Art Unit 1767
/MARK EASHOO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1767
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