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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/20/2026 has been entered.
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 13-16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moeller et al
(US 20050165164) in view of Hoch et al (US 20110229721) and further in view of Dupont et al. (WO0022062), newly cited reference as evidences by Ricon 150 and Ricon 152 Technical data sheets.
Moeller teaches a UV-crosslinkable hotmelt adhesive (see 0002) comprising the following components:
17.5% wt. butadiene/styrene copolymer;
59.5% wt. terpene hydrocarbon resin tackifier (meeting the corresponding limitations of claim 18);
22.5 % wt. polybutadiene;
0.5% wt. antioxidant;
0.5% wt. 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropiophenone photo initiator (see Example 1 at 0172).
Moeller fails to discloses a plasticizer in Examples.
However, the reference discloses 0 to 20% by weight of a plasticizer as component (F) (meeting the corresponding limitations of claim 18, see 0110).
Note that Moeller teaches the claimed ranges of all components in a preferred embodiment (see 0103).
Regarding the components structures, Moeller teaches the following:
The percentage content of vinylic double bonds in Butadiene/styrene copolymer is 5 to 30% wt., based on the total number of olefinic double bonds in component (see 0050).
The plasticizer is chosen from hydrogenated plasticizers, which are selected from the group of
paraffinic hydrocarbon oils, commercially available, for example, under the name of Primol 352 from Exxon, having molecular weight of 600 (see 0076, meeting the limitations of claim 16), which is the same compound as the one used in the instant Application (see Example 1 of the printed publication).
The photoinitiator is selected from widely known commercial products (see 0063 and Example 1).
The liquid polybutadiene is represented by Ricon 150 (see Example 1), which has Molecular weight Mn of 4200 and 1,2 Vinyl content of 70% wt. In turn, Applicant uses Ricon 152, which has Molecular weight Mn of 3900 and 1,2 Vinyl content of 76% wt. at the same specific gravity of 0.89 (see Ricon 150 and Ricon 152 Technical data sheets).
Thus, both Ricon polybutadienes above possess almost identical properties.
The tackifier resin is an aliphatic or alicyclic petroleum hydrocarbon resins and hydrogenated derivatives thereof, which has a softening point of 90 to 120° C (see 0052, meeting the limitations of claims 13 and 15).
However, Moeller fails to a tackifying resin containing teach petroleum derived C9 fraction.
Hoch teaches a hotmelt pressure sensitive adhesive (see 0003) comprising Kraton styrene -butadiene resin liquid plasticizer (see Example 1 at 0079), and a tackifying resin.
The latter can be represented by widely known commercial products based on C5 terpenes used by Moeller or C9 -based resins used by Applicant (see 0031).
In particular, Hoch teaches Regalite R-5100 (see 0041), which is used in Example 1 of instant Application.
The selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use supported a prima facie obvious ness determination in Sinclair & Carroll Co. V. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 65 USPQ 297(1945), 325 U.S. at 335, 65 USPQ at 301, see also In re Leshin, 227 F.2d 197, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA1960), Ryco, Inc. V. Ag-Bag Corp., 857 F.2d 1418, 8 USPQ2d 1323 (Fed. Cir. 1988) and MPEP 2144.07.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to interchangeably use C5 and C9 polymerized hydrocarbons in Moeller's composition, since they are known materials based on their suitability for its intended use.
Moeller and Hoch do not explicitly teach a block copolymer having at least 25% wt. of 1,2 butadiene.
Dupont teaches a radiation-curable adhesive comprising: (a) a block copolymer comprising at least two mono-alkenyl aromatic hydrocarbon blocks and at least one butadiene block, wherein the 1,2-vinyl content in the butadiene block is at least 25 % by weight; (b) from 100 to 300 parts by weight of a tackifying resin, per 100 parts by weight of block copolymer, wherein the tackifying resin is partially hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin, having an unsaturation index (Ui) in the range from 3 to 25 %; (c) 5 to 100 parts by weight of a partially or fully saturated oil; (d) optionally a photo-initiator; and (e) one or more stabilizers (see Abstract).
Dupont discloses that copolymers having increased content of 1,2 provides a composition, which has high peel adhesion (see 3:10 and Table 2 at page 21).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use Dupont’s block-copolymer in Moeller’s composition in order to increase its peel adhesion.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant submits that Examiner does not provide any reference regarding claimed amount of 1,2 butadiene content in the block copolymer.
Newly cited reference Dupont et al discloses such copolymer.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY LISTVOYB whose telephone number is (571)272-6105. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Heidi Riviere Kelley can be reached at (571) 270-1831. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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GL
/GREGORY LISTVOYB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1765
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