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 .
Response to Arguments
The Applicant’s arguments based on the claim amendments submitted 08/27/2025 are deemed persuasive in overcoming the previously applied prior art rejections. As such, said rejections are hereby withdrawn. Further search and consideration has revealed new prior art that reads on the Applicant’s claims as set forth below. As the new rejections are in response to amendments that were not previously considered and are new to prosecution this action is made final.
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(s) 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwasaki et al. (US Patent 10,642,173) in view of Watanabe et al. (US PGP 2019/0369517).
Iwasaki teaches a photoreceptor comprising a conductive substrate, an undercoat layer and a photosensitive layer disposed in this order (Abstract). The undercoat layer of Iwasaki is taught to comprise a perinone-based electron transport compound as well as an arylamine-based compound (Col. 2 ln 10-62, col 12 ln. 46 – Col. 17 ln. 54 and Col. 17 ln. 63 – Col. 20 ln. 64). The electron transport and arylamine compounds taught by Iwasaki read on the compounds recited by the Applicant in pending claims 1 and 4-6. As suitable binder resins for the undercoat layer Iwasaki teaches the preferable use of polyurethanes (Col. 21 ln. 4-30). It is further taught that the polyurethane is synthesized by a polyaddition reaction between a polyisocianate and polyol (Col. 21 ln. 29-30) wherein the polyol may or may not be polyvinyl butyral (Col. 21 ln. 61-64). Iwasaki does not teach a suitable content of a polyvinyl butyral resin in the undercoat layer.
Iwasaki also teaches the compositional amounts of the various components of the undercoat layer. The arylamine compound is taught to be present in an amount of 0.01 to 1.0 mmol/g. In embodiments (specifically Example 1) Iwasaki demonstrates that 0.9 parts of arylamine compound is added to 56.1 total parts of the solid component, or 1.6 parts on a basis of 100 (0.9/56.1 x 100 percent/parts = 1.6), corresponds to a solid content of 0.03 mmol/g (Col. 35 ln. 20-42). As such, it is clear that the content range of 0.01 to 1.0 mmol/g encompasses the Applicant’s ranges recited in pending claims 7-9. Regarding the content of the electron transport compound Iwasaki teaches a suitable amount within the preferable range of 50 mass % to 75 mass %, which reads on the Applicant’s ranges recited in pending claims 10-12 (Col. 17 ln. 55-62).
The photoreceptor comprising the undercoat layer described above is additionally taught to be used as a component of an image forming apparatus and process cartridge. The image forming apparatus is taught to comprise a charging unit, a latent image forming unit (radiation source), a developing unit to apply toner to the latent image and a transfer unit to transfer the toned image onto a substrate (Col. 31 ln. 33 to Col. 34 ln. 11). The process cartridge is taught to comprise at least the photoreceptor and is further taught to be attachably detachable from the image forming apparatus (Col. 31 ln. 33 to Col. 34 ln. 11).
Watanabe teaches an electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a conductive substrate, an undercoat layer, a photosensitive layer and a protective alyer (Abstract and [0065]). The undercoating layer is taught to possess and adhesion function between layers as well as a charge injection prevention function ([0065]). The adhesive function is provided by employing a resin ([0065-68]). In embodiments, the undercoating layer comprises 3% by weight solids of a polybyinvyl butyral resin and 55% by weight of a blocked isocyanate ([0127]). A catalyst is added to the undercoating layer solution and the blocked isocyanate and polyvinyl butyral resin are taught to polymerize to form the undercoating layer ([0127]). This process is analogous to that taught by Iwasaki above. As Iwasaki is silent to a suitable content of a polyvinyl butyral resin in the undercoat layer, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to the prior art for guidance. As such, it would have been obvious to any person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the instant application to have utilized the polyvinyl butyral resin in the amount taught by Watanabe et al. in the undercoat layer of Iwasaki et al. in order to improve adhesion between layers of the photoreceptor.