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 Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: The phrase “at the least two substituents” should be “the at least two substituents”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-15, 18-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Yu et. al., (US20050277732, herein Yu).
Regarding claims 1, 3-6, 10-13, Yu teaches mixing components (A) and (B) to form a mixture [0018] wherein, component (A) is the acid functional aliphatic polyester polyol [0027]; component (B) is polyisocyanates [0027], the mixture reads on hydroxy functional polyester-urethane composition, which comprising the monomers from (A) and (B), wherein, the component (A) acid functional aliphatic polyester polyol [0027] which is polyester is prepared by reacting a mixture containing a) a polyol component 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol [0035] with aliphatic alkyl ring, wherein the aliphatic alkyl ring bears two substituents that each comprise two hydroxyl group and wherein the remaining substituents on the aliphatic alkyl ring are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen. [structure see below: 1,4-Cyclohexanedimethanol mixture of cis and trans, 99 105-08-8]
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Yu teaches the 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid and anhydrides [0032] read on the b) polycarboxylic acid compound, with one aliphatic alkyl ring bearing two substituents that each comprise one carboxylic acid; and wherein the remaining constituents on the aliphatic alkyl ring are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen; also indicates two carboxyl groups can form an anhydride group. [Structure see below: 1,4-Cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid 99 1076-97-7]
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Yu further teaches the component (B) with 4,4′-diisocyanatodicyclohexylmethane; isophorone diisocyanate which are component (B) [0040] wherein, the isophorone diisocyanate has one aliphatic alkyl ring, wherein the at least one aliphatic alkyl ring bears 5 substituents that each comprise 2 isocyanate group, wherein the remaining substituents on the aliphatic alkyl ring are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, -CH3 group. reads on the c) polyisocyanate. [Structure see below: Isophorone diisocyanate 98 4098-71-9]
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Regarding claim 7, Yu teaches a) a polyol component containing 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol [0035] which can lead to the 100% weight percent of the polyol comprising aliphatic alkyl ring and lies in the claimed range.
Regarding claim 8, Yu teaches the polybasic acids include, 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid [0032] which can lead to the 100% weight percent of the polycarboxyl compound comprising aliphatic alkyl ring and lies in the claimed range.
Regarding claim 9, Yu teaches the polyisocyanate may be at least one selected from the group consisting of isophorone diisocyanate [0032] which can lead to the 100% weight percent of the weight percent of the polyisocyanate comprising at least one aliphatic alkyl ring, lies in the claimed range.
Regarding claim 14, Yu teaches polyacrylic esters [0058] reads on polyacrylic polymer.
Regarding claim 15, Yu teaches γ-aminopropyl trimethoxy silane [0055] reads on trimethoxy silane.
Regarding Claims 18, 19, 22, 23, Yu teaches pigments [0053] as additional component.
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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et. al., (US20050277732, herein Yu).
Regarding claim 2, Yu teaches mixing components (A) and (B) to form a mixture [0018] as set forth in claim 1. Yu teaches the polybasic acids include, 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, adipic acid [0032]; and example resin C: adipic acid 1796g, yield 3478g [P6; Table 1].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to substitute the adipic acid with 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, as the two are recognized by the prior art as equivalents suitable for the same purpose. It is prima facie obvious to combine equivalents taught by the prior art to be suitable for the same purpose. See MPEP 2144.06.
Therefore, the mole of adipic acid is 1796/146.14=12.29 mole, upon substitution, becomes the mole of the 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, which equals to the mole of aliphatic alkyl ring, hence, the aliphatic alkyl rings per gram of the composition=12.29 mole/3478 g=0.0035 mole/g. Yu is silent towards at least 0.0045 moles of aliphatic alkyl rings per gram of the composition. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have optimized the amount of adipic acid, 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid through routine experimentation, and the motivation to do so would have been to predictable coating results of examples 6, 7, which both used the resin C with the aliphatic alkyl rings per gram of the composition 0.0035 mole/g, both had excellent adhesion to the steel panels, even though no corrosion inhibitor, for example zinc phosphate, was used as is used in other typical direct-to-metal paints [0088], which eventually help achieve the final product processing optimization.
In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955) [See MPEP 2144.05]
Claim 16, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et. al., (US20050277732, herein Yu) as applied in claim 1 set forth above, and in the further view of Ciaccio et. al., (US20180312626, herein Ciaccio).
Regarding Claims 16, 17, Yu teaches the crosslinked composition of claim 1 as shown above. Yu teaches the curing catalyst [0055] as crosslinking agent, indicating curing reaction, but is silent on the specified crosslinking agent. However, Ciaccio teaches crosslinking isocyanates include polyisocyanates can be blocked [0037] reads on the crosslinking agent blocked polyisocyanate. Yu and Ciaccio are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor, that of the polyester-urethane based coating composition development. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yu to substitute the teachings of Ciaccio and provide wherein said crosslinking isocyanates include polyisocyanates can be blocked [0037] as crosslinking agent into the coating composition and product development. Doing so would further lead to the desired property of as resulting resin and any coating containing such resin to have more reaction and/or crosslinking sites to react with a crosslinker in the present coating composition and/or an adjacent coating layer thereby providing better intercoat adhesion between two adjacent coating layers, better chip resistance and sag resistance properties. [0013] taught by Ciaccio.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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