DETAILED ACTION
Applicant’s amendment dated 18 March 2026 is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1 and 3-21 as amended are pending, with claims 11-18 withdrawn. All outstanding objections and rejections made in the previous Office Action, and not repeated below, are hereby withdrawn.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior office action.
New grounds of rejection set forth below are necessitated by applicant’s amendment filed on 18 March 2026. For this reason, the present action is properly made final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 1, 3-10, and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2020-158704 A (“Tsurui”).
A partial machine translation is enclosed.
As to claim 1, Tsurui teaches a resin composition. Tsurui teaches a thermosetting resin in particular epoxy resin (para. 0013-0014) and curing agent (para. 0106) as well as cured product thereof (see para. 0181), and thus suggests an epoxy thermoset composition, which is acknowledged by applicant to provide a rigid polymer (see specification, para. 0018). Tsurui exemplifies compositions having the epoxy resin (see examples).
Tsurui teaches an adhesive softening agent (D). While not exemplified, Tsurui teaches that such agent may be a polyrotaxane (para. 0047), specifically preferring a polyrotaxane having a reactive group in the cyclic molecule (para. 0061). Tsurui teaches that this feature makes it possible to crosslink the polyrotaxane and the thermosetting resin. Therefore, the use of a functionalized polyrotaxane is obvious as a preferred embodiment taught by Tsurui.
While not exemplified, Tsurui teaches that the curing agent may be a benzoxazine based curing agent (para. 0107) such that the thermosetting resin is benzoxazine based. The use of benzoxazine in the rigid polymer is an obvious modification suggested as a resin by Tsurui.
As to claims 3 and 4, while not exemplified, Tsurui teaches the polyrotaxane is preferably with a reactive group, thus functionalized polyrotaxane, including hydroxy carboxyl, and epoxy group which are within the range of functionalities of claim 3, and suggests an epoxidized polyrotaxane according to claim 4. The use of the recited functionalities is therefore an obvious modification suggested by Tsurui for crosslinking the polyrotaxane to the resin.
As to claims 5, 6, 19, and 20, Tsurui teaches the use of (C) an organic filler that is preferably a core shell particle, particularly a core shell rubber (para. 0040-0041); as such, the use of core shell rubber is a preferred embodiment taught by Tsurui and thus an obvious modification.
As to claims 7 and 21, while not exemplified, Tsurui teaches that the curing agent may be a benzoxazine based curing agent (para. 0107) such that the thermosetting resin is benzoxazine based. The use of benzoxazine in the rigid polymer is an obvious modification suggested as a resin by Tsurui. Furthermore, in mixture, it would be expected that core shell rubber would be dispersed in benzoxazine curing agent, a monomer.
As to claim 8, Tsurui does not exemplify the recited amount of rigid polymer resin. However, Tsurui teaches the use of 5 to 50 % of the thermosetting resin in the composition (para. 0026), and 1 to 30 mass percent of curing agent (para. 0117), which may be benzoxazine, which are the components of the rigid polymer resin. Tsurui teaches the other component other than the organic filler (core shell particle) and adhesive component (functionalized polyrotaxane) is inorganic filler in 20 to 70 wt % (para. 0036), the organic filler in amounts between 5 and 30 % (para. 0045), and adhesive agent between 1 and 50 wt %. It is calculated therefore that Tsurui suggests between 7.5 and 92.5 wt % of a rigid polymeric resin with respect to polymer resin, functionalized polymer resin and core shell rubber, which incorporates the recited amounts. As such, given the amounts suggested, the use of rigid polymer, including in the recited range, is an obvious modification within the suggested amounts of thermoset by Tsurui.
As to claim 9, Tsurui does not exemplify the recited amount of functionalized polyrotaxane. However, Tsurui teaches the use of 5 to 50 % of the thermosetting resin in the composition (para. 0026), and 1 to 30 mass percent of curing agent (para. 0117), which may be benzoxazine, which are the components of the rigid polymer resin. Tsurui teaches the other component other than the organic filler (core shell particle) and adhesive component (functionalized polyrotaxane) is inorganic filler in 20 to 70 wt % (para. 0036), the organic filler in amounts between 5 and 30 % (para. 0045), and adhesive agent between 1 and 50 wt %. It is calculated therefore that Tsurui suggests between 1.25 wt and 62.5 wt % of the functionalized polyrotaxane with respect to the rigid polymer, functionalized polyrotaxane and core shell rubber, which encompasses the recited range. It would be obvious to modify the composition of Tsurui with functionalized polyrotaxane to obtain the desired flexibility as taught by Tsurui.
As to claim 10, Tsurui does not exemplify the recited amount of core shell polymer. However, Tsurui teaches the use of 5 to 50 % of the thermosetting resin in the composition (para. 0026), and 1 to 30 mass percent of curing agent (para. 0117), which may be benzoxazine, which are the components of the rigid polymer resin. Tsurui teaches the other component other than the organic filler (core shell particle) and adhesive component (functionalized polyrotaxane) is inorganic filler in 20 to 70 wt % (para. 0036), the organic filler in amounts between 5 and 30 % (para. 0045), and adhesive agent between 1 and 50 wt %. It is calculated therefore that Tsurui suggests between 6.25 wt and 77 wt % of the core shell polymer with respect to the rigid polymer, functionalized polyrotaxane and core shell rubber, which encompasses the recited range. It would be obvious to modify the composition of Tsurui with core shell rubber to obtain the desired flexibility and viscosity (para. 0045) as taught by Tsurui.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 18 March 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s argument that Tsurui does not disclose a benzoxazine resin. Tsurui clearly teaches benzoxazines that form thermosets; as such, Tsurui suggests benzoxazine based resins. The Office notes that the claims as currently drafted do not exclude the use of epoxy compounds in the resin.
Applicant’s argument that the use of epoxidized polyrotaxane provides unexpected results is unpersuasive, because Tsurui clearly teaches the benefit of using functional groups on the rotaxane for providing further crosslinking. As such, the results provided by applicant are not commensurate in scope with the claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/KREGG T BROOKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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