CTFR 17/704,021 CTFR 85790 DETAILED ACTION This office action follows a reply filed on February 18, 2026. Claim 1 has been amended. Claims 1-3 and 5-15 are currently pending and under examination. The rejections, as set forth in the previous office action, are deemed proper and are therefore maintained. 07-103 AIA The texts of those sections of Title 35 U.S. Code are not included in this section and can be found in a prior Office action. 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-3, 7-8, 10-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2002-240412 in view of Gregory (US 5,055,566) . JP ‘412 teaches an ink including water, a water-soluble solvent, such as lower alkyl alcohols, and a colorant, where the colorant is resin-coated in order to strengthen the adhesion between the transfer layer and the ink. JP ‘412 teaches the coloring agent to include acid dyes and reactive dyes. JP ‘412 teaches the coating agent for the particles used in the resin coating to include thermoplastic resins, and includes those which are prepared from monomers having hydrophilic functional groups such as carboxyl and hydroxyl groups. JP ‘412 does not teach or suggest exchanging the counter ion with an organic cation, as claimed. Gregory teaches amine salts of disazo black dyes having good solubility in polar solvents (Title), and its use in inks for ink-jet printing. Gregory teaches preparing the amine salts by mixing an aqueous solution of the sodium salt with an aqueous solution of the amine salt to cause precipitation of the amine salt of the disazo black dye (col. 2, ll. 4-10). Gregory teaches that the amine salt of the disazo black dye has generally good solubility in polar organic media, especially lower alkanols, and is particularly suitable for the preparation of inks in such media, especially inks for use in ink-jet printing equipment (col. 2, ll. 11-16). Gregory teaches that the amines to include substituted ammonium groups, such as 2-ethylhexylammonium, 1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl ammonium, and 3,5,5-trimethylhexyl ammonium (col. 1, ll. 60-62). Gregory exemplifies the black dye as CI Food Black 2, which is a known acid dye. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have used the amine salt of the acid dyes in JP ‘412, as Gregory teaches that the amine salt allows for the acid black dye to provide increased solubility in the polar organic media required by JP ‘412. Alternatively, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have coated the colorant with resin, as JP ‘412 teaches that this strengthens the adhesion between the transfer layer and the ink. JP ‘412 in view of Gregory is prima facie obvious over instant claims 1 and 8, 10 and 11. Claims 2-3 only limit the oil-soluble dye when it is represented by Formula (D1), where that obtained by exchanging a counter cation in an acid dye with an organic cation containing an alkyl group having 4 or more carbon atoms is listed as an alternative thereto. As to claim 7, JP ‘412 teaches the resin as having a melting point of greater than 50°C, suggesting the Tg as lower than 50°C. As to claim 13, JP ‘412 teaches that a plurality of inks can be used . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-3, 5-8 and 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi (US 2017/0158892) in view of Gregory (US 5,055,566) . Takahashi teaches an ink including a coloring material, an organic solvent, and resin particles, which contain urethane resin particles, an amine compound and water (Abstract). Takahashi teaches the urethane resin particles as a reaction product of a polyisocyanate and a polyol, where the urethane resin particles contain an anionic group, which can be achieved by preparing the urethane resin particles with a polyol containing an anionic group, such as 2,2-dimethylolpropionic acid, 2,2-dimethylolbutanoic acid, 2,2-dimethylolheptanoic acid and 2,2-dimethyloloctanoic acid (p. 2, [0035]). Takahashi teaches that the polycarbonate-based polyurethanes are preferrable because of excellent water dispersion stability (p. 2, [0036]). Please consider the following for addressing the limitation each . Takahashi goes on to teach forms of coloring material: (1) water dispersion of polymer particles containing a water-insoluble or sparingly-water soluble pigment (a resin-coated coloring material), (2) a coloring material containing at least one kind of hydrophilic group on a surface and exhibiting water dispersibility in the absence of a dispersant (a self-dispersible coloring material) and (3) a pigment dispersed in an aqueous medium with a dispersant (p. 8, [0154]). Takahashi teaches that when the content of coloring material is 1 part by mass, a content of the urethane resin particles 0.05-2 parts (p. 3, [0065]). Choosing a content of 1 part by mass coloring material to 1 part by mass of urethane resin particle suggests that the colored resin particles each contain a polymer and a dye. Takahashi teaches the coloring material to include dyes having excellent water and light resistance (p. 6, [0109]), specifically listing acid dyes and food dyes, such as CI Food Black 2 (p. 6, [0109]-[0110]). Takahashi does not teach or suggest exchanging a counter cation in an acid dye with an organic cation containing an alkyl group having 4 or more carbon atoms, as claimed. Gregory teaches amine salts of disazo black dyes having good solubility in polar solvents (Title), and its use in inks for ink-jet printing. Gregory teaches preparing the amine salts by mixing an aqueous solution of the sodium salt with an aqueous solution of the amine salt to cause precipitation of the amine salt of the disazo black dye (col. 2, ll. 4-10). Gregory teaches that the amine salt of the disazo black dye has generally good solubility in polar organic media, especially lower alkanols, and is particularly suitable for the preparation of inks in such media, especially inks for use in ink-jet printing equipment (col. 2, ll. 11-16). Gregory teaches that the amines to include substituted ammonium groups, such as 2-ethylhexylammonium, 1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl ammonium, and 3,5,5-trimethylhexyl ammonium (col. 1, ll. 60-62). Gregory exemplifies the black dye as CI Food Black 2, which is a known acid dye. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have used the amine salt of the acid dyes in Takahashi , as Gregory teaches that the amine salt allows for the acid black dye to provide increased solubility in the polar organic media required by Takahashi . Takahashi in view of Gregory is prima facie obvious over instant claims 1, 4, 10 and 11. Claims 2-3 only limit the oil-soluble dye when it is represented by Formula (D1), where that obtained by exchanging a counter cation in an acid dye with an organic cation containing an alkyl group having 4 or more carbon atoms is listed as an alternative thereto. As to claim 5, the polycarbonate based-urethane inherently requires a polycarbonate based diol and meets applicants’ formula (2) and the urethane meets applicants’ formula (1). As to claims 5, 6 and 8, Takahashi exemplifies the preparation of the urethane resin using a polycarbonate diol having a Mn of 2,000, which meets applicants’ formula (2), 4,4-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate, which when reacted with the diol meets applicants’ formula (1), and dimethylolpropionic acid, which meets applicants’ hydrophilic group consisting of a carboxyl group (Preparation Example 3, p. 16, [0268]). As to claim 7, Takahashi teaches the Tg of the polymer as between -30°C and 30°C (p. 2, [0041]) As to claim 13, Takahashi teaches an image forming step using a full-line type head, which are capable of handling black, cyan, magenta and yellow inks (p. 13, [0235]), which meets applicants’ ink set. As to claims 12, 14 and 15, Takahashi teaches the print medium to include cloth, which meets applicants’ textile. Takahashi teaches applying the ink to the print medium and heating/drying (p. 12, [0218]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi (US 2017/0158892) in view of Gregory (US 5,055,566), as applied above to claims 1-3, 5-8 and 10-15, and further in view of Houjou (US 2008/0143785) . Takahashi in view of Gregory is prima facie obvious over instant claims 1-8 and 10-15, as described above and applied herein as such, as Takahashi teaches an ink comprising a coloring material, such as acid dyes, polyurethane particles having a hydrophilic group, and a surfactant, where Gregory teaches that the acid dye can be made more soluble in the polar solvent if the sodium cation is exchanged with a long chain amine compound. Takashashi does not teach or suggest the molecular weight of the urethane resin particles, as claimed. Houjou teaches an ink composition containing a coloring material and polymer particles, the polymer particles including an anionic hydrophilic functional group and a minimum film formation temperature of not higher than 25°C (Abstract). Houjou teaches the polymer particles as having a molecular weight of at least 5000, teaching that if it is less than 5000 then beneficial effects are insufficient in terms of achieving good abrasion resistance and fixing characteristics (p. 9, [0132]). A very high molecular wight inherently results in an increase in viscosity, where Houjou teaches that if the viscosity of the ink becomes too high, the ejection characteristics will deteriorate (p. 9, [0131]). Houjou also teaches that when the resin acts as a coating film in the ink composition, as is the case in Takahashi , limiting the molecular weight to 50,000 is desirable (p. 7, [0116]). Therefore, preparing resin particles of Takahashi with a molecular wight of about 5000-50,000 is prima facie obvious . Response to Arguments 07-37 AIA Applicant's arguments filed February 18, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicants argue that one of ordinary skill in the art would not resin-coat the amine salt dye of Gregory because the resin-coating would decrease the solubility of the amine salt dye in the polar organic media. The examiner disagrees, as JP ‘412 teaches the resin-coating, where JP ‘412 teaches the dyes to include oil-soluble dyes and solvent-dispersible dyes, and teaches the resin to include those which have carboxyl and/or hydroxyl groups, which are known to impart solubility to acrylics when dispersed in polar solvents. Additionally, Takahasi teaches that the polyurethane water dispersions have excellent dispersion stability. Takahashi also teaches a water dispersion of polymer particles containing a water-insoluble or sparingly-water-soluble pigment (resin-coated coloring material). The addition of the polyurethane to the dye of Gregory would be expected to provide water solubility to the water-insoluble or sparingly-water-soluble pigment. Applicants argue unexpected results; however, the results are not commensurate in scope with the claimed invention, as applicants have only provided examples using the polymer (P) having the structures for Formulae (1) and (2), where the claimed invention currently allows for any polymer (P) with a hydrophilic group. Conclusion 07-39 AIA THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 BRIEANN R JOHNSTON whose telephone number is (571)270-7344. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Randy Gulakowski can be reached at (571)272-1302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Brieann R Johnston/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766 Application/Control Number: 17/704,021 Page 2 Art Unit: 1766 Application/Control Number: 17/704,021 Page 3 Art Unit: 1766 Application/Control Number: 17/704,021 Page 4 Art Unit: 1766 Application/Control Number: 17/704,021 Page 5 Art Unit: 1766 Application/Control Number: 17/704,021 Page 6 Art Unit: 1766 Application/Control Number: 17/704,021 Page 7 Art Unit: 1766 Application/Control Number: 17/704,021 Page 8 Art Unit: 1766 Application/Control Number: 17/704,021 Page 9 Art Unit: 1766
Prosecution Insights