DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1, 4-9, and 11-17 are pending. Claim 1 has been amended, claims 2, 3, and 10 were previously canceled, and claim 17 has been added.
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 .
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.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 4-9, and 11-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kume et al. (WO2016104585) in view of Kubota (U.S. 2013/0266900).
Kume et al. teaches a photosensitive element according to the present embodiment comprises a support and a photosensitive resin layer formed on the support using the photosensitive resin composition [0083] and as the support, for example, a polymer film having heat resistance and solvent resistance such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate can be used [0084] (claims 1 and 17) in which the thickness of the photosensitive resin layer in the photosensitive element may be selected, as appropriate, by use, but may have a thickness of 1-200 μm, 5-100 μm, or 10-50 μm after drying. Since the thickness of the photosensitive resin layer is 1 μm or more, industrial application is facilitated and productivity tends to be improved. In addition, when the thickness of the photosensitive resin layer is 200 μm or less, there is a tendency that a resist pattern having excellent resolution and aspect ratio can be formed because the photosensitivity of the photosensitive resin layer is high and the photocurability of the resist bottom portion is excellent [0094] (claim 1). Kume et al. also teaches the photosensitive resin composition contains (A) a binder polymer, (B) a photopolymerizable compound having an ethylenically unsaturated bond, (C) a photopolymerization initiator, (D) a photosensitizer, and (E) a polymerization inhibitor, wherein the content of the (E) polymerization inhibitor is 0.03-0.3 parts by mass relative to 100 parts by mass of the total solid content of the photopolymerizable compound (A) having the (A) binder polymer and the (B) ethylenically unsaturated bond [0031] (claim 1) wherein an example of the binder polymer includes polymer A-1 used in the examples in which a solution a was prepared by mixing 125 g of methacrylic acid, 25 g of methyl methacrylate, 125 g of benzyl methacrylate, 225 g of styrene, and 1.5 g of azobisisobutyronitrile as a polymerizable monomer [0128] which is equivalent to the binder polymer of instant claims 1 having a structural unit derived from methacrylic acid benzyl ester with a content of 25% by mass based on the total amount of the binder polymer (claims 1, 11, and 12). Kume et al. further teaches the component (E) may include a compound represented by general formula (I) from a site that further improves resolution [0071] and the compound represented by general formula (I) is, for example, catechol, resorcinol (resorcin), 1,4-hydroquinone,2-methylcatechol, 3-methylcatechol, 4-methylcatechol, 2-ethylcatechol, 3-ethylcatechol, 4-ethylcatechol, 2-propylcatechol, 3-propyl catechol, 4-propylcatechol, 2-n-butylcatechol, 3-n-butylcatechol, 4-n-butylcatechol, 2-tert-butylcatechol, 3-tert-butylcatechol, alkylcatechol such as 5-di-tert-butylcatechol, 2-methylresorcinol, 4-methylresorcinol, 5-methylresorcinol (orcin), 2-ethylresorcinol, 4-ethylresorcinol, 2-propyl resorcinol, 4-propylresorcinol, 2-n-butylresorcinol, 4-n-butylresorcinol, 2-tert-butylresorcinol, 4-tert-butylresorcinol. These can be used alone or in combination of two or more types. Among the compounds represented by general formula (I), it may be an alkyl catechol from a view that further improves resolution [0074-0075] (claims 1 and 13). Kume et al. also teaches the content of the component (E) may be 0.03-0.3 parts by mass relative to 100 parts by mass of the total solid content of the component (A) and the component (B), and may be 0.03-0.2 parts by mass, 0.05-0.15 parts by mass, or 0.05-0.1 parts by mass. By setting the content of the component (E) to 0.3 parts by mass or less, the exposure time can be shortened, the efficiency of mass production can be improved, the photoreaction of the exposure part can be sufficiently advanced, the resist swelling property can be suppressed by improving the reaction rate, and the resolution can be improved [0076] (claims 14-16). Kume et al. further teaches the component (B) is, for example, a urethane monomer such as a compound obtained by reacting an alpha, beta-unsaturated carboxylic acid with a polyhydric alcohol, a bisphenol type (meth) acrylate compound, a (meth) acrylate compound having a urethane bond, a nonylphenoxyethyleneoxy (meth) acrylate, a nonylphenoxyoctaethyleneoxy(meth) acrylate, gamma-chloro-beta-hydroxypropyl-beta'- (meth) acryloxyethyl-o-phthalate, beta-hydroxyethyl-beta'- (meth) acryloxyethyl-o-phthalate. Examples of the present invention include beta-hydroxypropyl-beta'- (meth)acryloxyethyl-o-phthalate, (meth) acrylic acid alkyl esters, and the like. These can be used alone or in combination of two or more types [0048] (claim 5), in addition, a compound obtained by reacting an alpha, beta-unsaturated carboxylic acid with a polyhydric alcohol may be included from a location where the followability of the substrate with respect to the unevenness is further improved. As such a compound, for example, polyalkylene glycol di (meth) acrylate having both EO groups and PO groups can be used in the molecule [0057] (claim 6).
Kume et al. does not explicitly teach the photopolymerizable compound contains a (meth)acrylate compound having a skeleton derived from dipentaerythritol or pentaerythritol.
However, Kubota teaches a photosensitive element comprising a support film and a photosensitive layer derived from a photosensitive resin composition formed on the support film, wherein the support film haze is 0.01-1.5%, the total number of particles with diameters of 5 µm and larger and aggregates with diameters of 5 µm or larger in the support film is no greater than 5/mm2, the photosensitive layer contains a binder polymer, a photopolymerizable compound with an ethylenically unsaturated bond and a photopolymerization initiator [0026] wherein from the viewpoint of improving the tenting property, component (b) may contain a urethane monomer such as a (meth)acrylate compound with a urethane bond [0112] and component (b) may also contain a photopolymerizable compound with an ethylenically unsaturated bond, other than one of those mentioned above. Examples of other (b) photopolymerizable compounds include compounds obtained by reacting an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid with a polyhydric alcohol, compounds obtained by reacting an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid with a glycidyl group-containing compound, and phthalic acid-based compounds, alkyl(meth)acrylate esters and the like. These may be used alone or in combinations of two or more. Examples of compounds obtained by reacting an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid with a polyhydric alcohol include trimethylolpropane di(meth)acrylate, trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, EO-modified trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, PO-modified trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, EO,PO-modified trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, dipentaerythritol penta(meth)acrylate and dipentaerythritol hexa(meth)acrylate. These may be used alone or in combinations of two or more [0114-0115]. The selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use supported a prima facie obviousness determination in Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 65 USPQ 297 (1945). See MPEP 2144.07. In the instant case, both Kume et al. and Kubota teach photosensitive resin compositions comprising photopolymerizable compounds which can be obtained by reacting an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid with a polyhydric alcohol. Kubota also teaches other known examples of such compounds include dipentaerythritol penta(meth)acrylate and dipentaerythritol hexa(meth)acrylate (claim 1). Furthermore, it is prima facie obvious to combine two compositions each of which is taught by the prior art to be useful for the same purpose, in order to form a third composition to be used for the very same purpose…[T]he idea of combining them flows logically from their having been individually taught in the prior art. In re Kerkhoven, 205 USPQ 1069 1072. Kume et al. also teaches that although the present embodiment has been described above, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments [0125].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kume et al. to include other known photopolymerizable compounds obtained by reacting an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid with a polyhydric alcohol such as dipentaerythritol penta(meth)acrylate and dipentaerythritol hexa(meth)acrylate taught by Kubota and arrive at the instant claims through routine experimentation of combining equally suitable components for the sought invention with a reasonable expectation of success.
With regard to claim 4, Kume et al. teaches examples of the component (D) include pyrazoline [0068].
With regard to claims 7-9, Kume et al. teaches the method for forming a resist pattern according to the present embodiment includes (i) a step for forming a photosensitive resin layer on a substrate using the photosensitive resin composition or the photosensitive element (hereinafter, referred to as "(i) a photosensitive resin layer forming step"), (ii) a step for exposing the photosensitive resin layer via a lens using an active light beam obtained by projecting the image of the photomask (hereinafter, referred to as "(ii) an exposure step"), and (iii) a step for removing the unexposed portion of the photosensitive resin layer from the substrate by development (hereinafter referred to as "(iii) developing step"), and optionally including other steps [0100]. Kume et al. also teaches the method for manufacturing the printed wiring board according to the present embodiment includes a step for forming a conductor pattern by etching or plating a substrate on which a resist pattern is formed by the method for forming the resist pattern, and may include other steps, such as a resist pattern removal step as necessary [0114] and after the etching treatment or plating treatment, the resist pattern on the substrate is removed [0119].
Response to Arguments
Due to the amendment filed November 14, 2025 of instant claim 1, the 103 rejection over Kume et al. (WO2017018299) has been withdrawn. Applicant’s arguments with regard to this rejection have been considered but are moot due to the amendment of instant claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. JP2010091662.
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/Anna Malloy/Examiner, Art Unit 1737
/MARK F. HUFF/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1737
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