DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Applicant's amendment filed May 19th, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 10, 17, and 19 have been amended. Claims 13-15 have been cancelled. Claim 22 has been added.
The Section 102/103 rejections over Gkinosatis (as the primary reference) have been partially withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendment. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection has been made and maintained rejections have been updated to reflect Applicant’s amendments as recited below.
The Section 102/103 rejections over Francklow (as the primary reference) have been partially withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendment. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection has been made and maintained rejections have been updated to reflect Applicant’s amendments as recited below.
The Section 102/103 rejections over Jones (as the primary reference) have been partially withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendment. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection has been made and maintained rejections have been updated to reflect Applicant’s amendments as recited below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed May 19th, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding Gkinosatis, Applicant argues that a “tie layer” as used for the solvent-free adhesive layer is not an “adhesive layer” as claimed citing as evidence the Appeal Decision 2023-003123 for Application No. 15,564,134, currently U.S. Patent No. 12,036,777 B2. The Examiner disagrees.
Contrary to Applicant’s opinion, the Examiner believes the case law proves the Examiner’s position as the limitation as claimed is not simply “an adhesive” but rather in the broadest claim 3 (claim 15 in the published patent), the limitation comprises “an adhesive layer, wherein the adhesive layer comprises a solventless adhesive, a waterborne adhesive, or a solventborne adhesive” and in claims 1 and 16 “an adhesive layer, wherein the adhesive layer comprises a solventless adhesive, a waterborne adhesive, or a solventborne adhesive, wherein the adhesive layer is not a tie layer during co-extrusion” wherein the court is commenting on the Examiner’s interpretation of the of “wherein the adhesive layer is not a tie layer during co-extrusion”.
Furthermore, the Court cites the disclosure that the adhesive layer is not a tie layer [PGPub, 0077]. This distinction is not made in the current disclosure.
Finally, the Court cites the differing mechanical properties set forth in each of the adhesively laminated layers being “preserved”. There are no such differing/distinct mechanical properties claimed for the multilayer film and the polyethylene film.
The Examiner is not required as the previous Examiner did to rely on a flawed claim interpretation based on the specification and/or improper hindsight reasoning for establishment of a secondary reference to meet the currently claimed limitation(s). The broadest reasonable interpretation based on Applicant’s disclosure is that while tie layer(s) an adhesive(s) are mentioned separately, this is mere a distinction without a difference as the two terms are often used interchangeably in the prior art.
Applicant then argues for each Gkinosatis, Francklow, and Jones that the heat seal initiation temperature at 5 N (being less than 97 °C), sealing window (of at least 40 °C), and seal strength at 120 °C (of at least 10.0 N/25 mm) are/is not taught. The Examiner disagrees.
The force of 5 N as it relates to seal initiation temperature is the pressure at which the seal is formed OR that temperature at which a seal strength of 5 N/25 mm is obtained (the disclosure seems to corroborate the latter [PGPub, 0098-0099]). However, the value of 5 N alone seems confusing when the rest of the values are claimed differently.
Also, it is unclear based on the claim language and the disclosure what exactly constitutes a seal window of any amount. What is the standard for determining a seal window? While many in the prior art agree that the sealing window begins with the onset of sealing (i.e. the seal initiation temperature) and is measured until the seal is broken/substantially degraded or the film is broken, the particular desired onset of seal strength (e.g. different currently provided prior art has designed for 2 N/25 mm, 5 N/25 mm, 8.8 N/25 mm, and 10 N/25 mm). It is also unclear what conditions or which adherent of the seal strength is being measured against (i.e. being sealed to itself versus another material can change the seal strength).
However, Yun teaches that a seal window that only contains the measurement of a heat seal strength of 40 N/inch or more (at the laminate level, which is on average 2.33x-3x that of the sealant film only), which would lead to a much narrower sealing window than as set forth although it may be the exact sane or substantially similar to that as disclosed but since there is no standard set forth, it is unclear [Yun; 0101], especially since the heat seal initiation temperature, or the temperature at which 10 N/25 mm seal strength is reached, is preferably 105 °C, or even 95 °C or less [Yun; 0019-0020, 0023, 0044, 0089].
Furthermore, as related to Applicant’s arguments that Yun does not teach the newly added limitations, it is demonstrated that a sealing film of 36 microns having a sealant layer of 12 microns in thickness (33% thickness) and comprising 80 wt% Affinity 1881 G (which inherently contains slip and antiblock agents) and 20 wt% provides a seal strength of 5 N/25 mm at a (seal initiation) temperature between 85 °C and 90, and a workable seal between around 85 °C and at least 160 °C for a general sealing window of almost about 75 °C and a seal strength at 120 °C of 23.3 N/25 mm and a seal strength of 71.8 N/25 mm at the laminate level (Table 10).
While the slip agent and antiblock agent are added via implication as recited above, it is further in view of Dow Affinity 1881G as previously set forth that more fully motivates their inclusion, wherein the rejection has been modified as set forth below.
Lastly, it is well-known to increasing bond/seal strength by generally increasing the thickness of the adhesive/sealant layer and a desired heat seal strength at any temperature could easily be optimized for based on whether a re-peelable, peelable, and/or tearable/permanent seal is desired.
Regarding Mudar, Applicant effectively argues the ionomer, but does not effectively argue that of the elastomer/plastomer for the same reasons as recited above.
Furthermore, Applicant argues that there is no reason to modify Francklow for contamination purposes. Francklow teaches that the enclosed product may be a meat or cheese [0056] and Mudar teaches that meats may be injected with products and/or contain blood that could contaminate a sealing zone [0002-0006]. This is an obviously beneficial reason to modify Francklow as set forth.
Regarding Kennedy, Applicant argues that since the outer sealant layer is only 1-20% of the thickness of the multilayer film that it cannot read on the single component polymer as claimed. The Examiner mostly disagrees.
There is no requirement that the sealant comprise a single polymer. For claim 1, the “sealant layer…consists of an ionomer of ethylene acid copolymer or polyethylene elastomer/plastomer…present in an amount of at least 70 wt%”. There is no requirement that only a single of the two choices are contained or that only one (co)polymer is contained (i.e. a blend may be used). The Examiner interprets the above to mean that so long as the sealant layer and sublayers thereof consist of materials being one or both of the two (co)polymers, then it makes anticipates (or make obvious and motivated) the claimed limitation. Therefore, the sealant consisting of an outer seal sublayer of an ionomer or polyethylene elastomer/plastomer as claimed + a seal assist sublayer consisting of the polyethylene elastomer/plastomer as claimed would anticipate at least claim 1, wherein the embodiment comprising materials of both the outer seal layer and seal assist layer consisting of polyethylene elastomer/plastomer would anticipate (or make obvious and motivated) the claimed limitation.
Furthermore, Applicant’s own embodiments are not single (co)polymer sealant layers as the slip and antiblock additives are included in masterbatch form based on a linear low-density polyethylene carrier (Polybatch CE505/Polybatch AB5) which is a distinct and/or different polymer than that of the polyethylene elastomer/plastomer it is paired with and the same goes for the Conpol 13b & 20S1 masterbatches based on an ethylene-methacrylic acid carrier resin that is a distinct and/or different polymer than that of the polyethylene ionomer.
However, the Examiner concedes that the sealant layer consisting of the ionomer and having the thickness as claimed in relation to the multilayer film is not taught. Although not currently relevant, U.S. Patent No. 4,156,749 evidences that the exemplary ionomer used in the sealant layer, Surlyn 1650 comprises a 12 wt% methacrylic acid copolymer or U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0172834 A1 makes it obvious that the ethylene content is 80 wt% or greater [0033], and Dow Product Data Sheet for Surlyn 1650 teaches a melt flow index of 1.8 g/10 min and a melting point of 97 °C.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
MAINTAINED REJECTIONS
Claims 1, 3-5, 7-10, 12, 16, and 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Gkinosatis (U.S. Pub. No. 2015/0010764 A1) (hereinafter “Gkinosatis”) OR, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Gkinosatis, optionally in view of Mudar et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0106429 A1) (hereinafter “Mudar”) and/or Su et al. (WO 2018/223358 A1) (hereinafter “Su”).
Regarding claims 1, 7-10, 12, 16, and 19-21, Gkinosatis teaches a multilayered film laminate for packaging liquid containing food products [0012] comprising an inner heat sealing layer comprising a homogeneous ethylene alpha olefin copolymer or blend of two or more thereof with a density of less [0054-0058], a barrier layer comprising ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer [0038, 0060-0062], between the sealing layer and the oxygen barrier is a tie layer comprising maleic anhydride modified (poly)ethylene [0063], wherein an outer layer comprising an (poly)ethylene-acid ionomer copolymer [0041, 0048-0051], wherein an example comprises a density of 0.94 g/cc [Table 1], wherein the outer layer is adhered to the barrier layer via a second tie/adhesive layer (solvent-free) [0064], wherein the outer layer further comprises additives of slip and/or antiblock agents [0053], in the example the sealant layer consists of a blend of 56 wt% of Affinity PF 1140, a homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer (plastomer) having a density of 0.896 g/cc and a melting point of 94 °C and a melt index of 1.6 g/10 min, and 40 wt% of Tafmer 4085, a homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer (plastomer) having a density of 0.885 g/cc and a melting point of less than 70 °C and a melt index of 3.5 g/10 min and 4% of additives (assumed to be the same or similar slip and/or antiblock additives as recited for the outer layer), wherein the thickness of the inner heat seal layer is more preferably 10 to 60 microns which is about 0.08 to 50% of the total film thickness , and 23 microns in an example comprising 42.6% of the total film laminate thickness, wherein each layer is substantially based on polyethylene (≥95 wt%, or obviously so) when EVOH and its ethylene-based tie layers are used, wherein “when, as by a recitation of ranges or otherwise, a claim covers several compositions, the claim is anticipated if one of them is in the prior art" Titanium Metals Corp. v. Banner, 778 F.2d 775, 227 USPQ 773 (Fed. Cir. 1985). See MPEP 2131.03 I. Alternatively, if the prior art ranges do not anticipate Applicant’s, in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990). MPEP 2144.05 I.
Further regarding claims 1 and 19, although the prior art does not disclose any of the claimed properties, the claimed properties are deemed to be inherent to the structure in the prior art since Gkinosatis teaches an invention with a substantially similar structure and chemical composition as the claimed invention. Products of identical structure and composition cannot have mutually exclusive properties. The burden is on the Applicants to prove otherwise.
In the event that the additives of the sealant layer cannot be assumed to be slip and/or antiblock additives, identical to those set forth for the outer layer:
Mudar teaches a packaging product for food having added liquid contaminants and being sealed by heat sealing, wherein the seal further comprises a slip agent (or a surfactant), and optionally a blocking agent [0067], wherein the addition of the slip agent results in the ability to provide hermetic seals having fewer leaks and/or greater seal strength [0006-0007], wherein the slip and antiblocking agent are added in amounts not greater than 20 wt%, preferably about 300 ppm to about 6000 ppm (0.03 to 0.6 wt%) [0008, 0068. Table 2].
AND/OR
Su teaches an ethylene-based alpha-olefin heat seal outer layer, wherein to achieve low slip on a packaging layer slip agents are typically/conventionally added to the ethylene-based alpha-olefin outer layer, wherein an improvement comprises a combination fatty acid non-migratory slip agent [0002-0003] at a combined weight of about 0.01 to 5.0 wt% [0075] and an antiblock agent that minimizes or prevents blocking in an amount from about 0 to 2.0 wt% [0072].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a sealing layer consisting of an ionomer or polyethylene plastomer/elastomer as claimed a slip agent and/or antiblock agent. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to provide the sealing area with the ability to seal through contamination to provide hermetic seals having fewer leaks and/or greater seal strength [Mudar] AND/OR to maintain desirable and conventional low coefficient of friction during different processing conditions such as elevated temperature and/or pressure [Su].
Regarding claims 3-5, the film can be oriented at least along the machine direction during biaxial stretching/orientation [0071].
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gkinosatis, optionally in view of Mudar and/or Su, as applied to claim 1 above, (further) in view of Clare et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0398544 A1) (hereinafter “Clare 2020”) AND/OR Zheng et al. (WO 2018/063578 A1) (hereinafter “Zheng”).
Regarding claim 11, Gkinosatis teaches the tie layer preferably comprises ethylene-(meth)acrylic acid grafted/modified polymer [0063], but does not teach an anhydride-modified linear low density polyethylene and at least one of a high/medium/low/linear low density polyethylene.
Clare 2020 teaches recyclable polyethylene packaging laminates [0001, 0030], wherein a first surface layer is a high density polyethylene and a second surface layer is a linear low density polyethylene-based sealing layer, wherein a barrier layer is disposed therein [claims 1-2, 7-8, 13-14], wherein the EVOH is bonded with tie layers comprising a blend of 80 wt% polyethylene, which comprises a linear low density polymer, and 20 wt% of a tie resin comprising maleic anhydride modified polyolefin [0124-0126], which ensures good adhesion of the ethylene vinyl alcohol with the polyethylene layers [0126].
AND/OR
Zheng teaches a tie layer B for bonding a barrier layer C such as ethylene vinyl alcohol to a polyethylene layer A, wherein the tie layer comprises 1 to 99 wt%, such as 80 to 95 wt%, of a first composition comprising an ethylene-based polymer, such as an ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer/copolymer (pg. 6), and 1-99 wt%, such as 5 to 20 wt%, of a maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene, such that it results in improved dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide the tie layer as comprising an anhydride-modified linear low-density polyethylene and a claimed polyethylene. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to ensure good adhesion of the ethylene vinyl alcohol with the polyethylene layers [Clare 2020; 0126] AND/OR to improve dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (Zheng; pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18), optionally further motivating the use of the tie-layer blend of Clare 2020.
Claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, 16, and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Francklow et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0088010 A1) (hereinafter “Francklow”) in view of Yun et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0099492 A1) (hereinafter “Yun”) and Dow (Technical Information for Affinity PL 1881G) (hereinafter “Dow 1”).
Regarding claims 1-6 and 12-21, Francklow teaches a multilayer lidding film (packaging laminate) for food packaging such as protein/meats and cheese [0002-0003, 0040, 0056] of substantially polyethylene materials for beneficial recycling [0008-0010], the laminate comprising a multilayer machine direction oriented or biaxially oriented polyethylene film (All Figs. [2]) [0016] comprising one of more layers of high-density polyethylene (known inherent density ~0.93-0.97 g/cm3) [0031-0034] adhesively (All Figs. [4]) laminated to multilayer non-oriented polyethylene film (All Figs. [3]) comprising at least one outer layer of polyethylene, such as LDPE (known inherent density range of ~0.917-0.93 g/cm3) (All Figs. [3a]) and a lower polyethylene-based (sealant) layer intended to heat seal to the package at a temperature less than the melting temperature of the oriented polyethylene substrate [0006, 0035-0038], having disposed therebetween a gas barrier layer (All Figs. [5]) comprising ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer having flanking first and second tie layers (All Figs. [6]) for bonding to the unoriented polyethylene layers [0025], wherein the lidding film preferably does not contain more than 5 wt% of a polymer other than polyethylene, and in an example the thickness of the non-oriented polyethylene film may be 15 to 100 µm and an exemplary non-oriented polyethylene film of 7 layers comprises outer polyethylene layers of 8 µm and 5 µm, each tie layer being 3 µm, the gas barrier layer being 3 µm, wherein the multilayer unoriented film thickness is 35 µm, wherein the gas barrier layer is 8.5% of the overall thickness range and one or both of the outermost layers being a mono- or multi-layer sealant layer of about 23% to 37% of the overall thickness range.
Further regarding claims 1 and 19, Francklow does not teach the sealant layer as consisting of at least 70 wt% of a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a highest peak melting temperature (Tm) of 100 °C or less and slip and/or antiblock agents.
Yun teaches that oriented polyethylene film are adhesively laminated to an unoriented monolayer sealant film, improved over oriented sealant films that negatively impact the sealing performance and improved over common polyethylene having a narrow sealing window, comprising at least 70 wt% and up to 100 wt% (consisting of) [0047-0048] of a polyethylene plastomer or elastomer among other choices, the polyolefin plastomer comprising a single-site or metallocene catalyzed (ethylene/alpha-olefin) copolymer having a density of 0.885 to 0.915 g/cc and a melt index of 0.5 to 20 g/10 min [0050-0051], wherein an exemplary embodiment comprises Affinity PL 1881 G [0052], with wherein the heat seal initiation temperature is 105 °C or less, preferably 95 °C or less [0023, 0044] to provide a sealing window of at least 15 °C [0027] and demonstrating a sealing window much larger than that as measured from the seal initiation point, but Yun does not explicitly motivate the usage of a sealant layer consisting of Affinity PL 1881 G, wherein Yun demonstrates a multilayer sealing film having three layers with the plastomer-containing sealing layer comprising a thickness of 12 microns in relation to an overall film thickness of 36 microns (~33%) [0088], which correlates well to the unoriented sealing film example set forth above in Franklow.
Dow 1 teaches that Affinity PL 1881 G contains a slip additive at about 750 ppm (0.075 wt%) and an antiblock additive at about 2500 (0.25 wt%), which provides a sealant excellent in hot tack strength reaching 8.8 N/25.4 mm by the melting point of 100 °C and a seal initiation temperature at 85 °C for a low temperature sealability and comprising outstanding optics for the packaging of meats and cheese, dry foods, and consumer goods, suited particularly for high-speed lines [Dow 1].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a sealant film consisting of a polyethylene plastomer/elastomer as claimed and slip and antiblock agents. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to the art for improved sealant films over LDPE/LLDPE comprising an exemplary embodiment [Yun] that provides a sealant excellent in hot tack strength reaching 8.8 N/25.4 mm by the seal initiation temperature at 85 °C for a low temperature sealability, ability to seal through contamination, and outstanding optics [Dow].
Claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, 16, and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Francklow et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0088010 A1) (hereinafter “Francklow”) in view of Mudar et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0106429 A1) (hereinafter “Mudar”), as evidenced by or further in view of Entec (Dow Affinity PL 1280 G Polyolefin) (hereinafter “Entec”).
Regarding claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, 16, and 19-22, Francklow teaches a multilayer lidding film (packaging laminate) that may enclose meat or cheese [0056], the lidding film being of substantially polyethylene materials for beneficial recycling [0008-0010], the laminate comprising a multilayer machine direction oriented or biaxially oriented polyethylene film (All Figs. [2]) [0016] comprising layers of high-density polyethylene (known inherent density ~0.93-0.97 g/cm3) [0031-0034] adhesively (All Figs. [4]) laminated to multilayer non-oriented polyethylene film (All Figs. [3]) comprising at least one outer layer of polyethylene, such as LDPE (known inherent density range of ~0.917-0.93 g/cm3) (All Figs. [3a]) and a lower polyethylene-based (sealant) layer intended to heat seal to the package at a temperature less than the melting temperature of the oriented polyethylene substrate [0006, 0035-0038], having disposed therebetween a gas barrier layer (All Figs. [5]) comprising ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer having flanking first and second tie layers (All Figs. [6]) for bonding to the unoriented polyethylene layers [0025], wherein the lidding film preferably does not contain more than 5 wt% of a polymer other than polyethylene, wherein the thickness of the non-oriented polyethylene film may be 15 to 100 µm and an exemplary non-oriented polyethylene film of 7 layers comprises outer polyethylene layers of 8 µm and 5 µm, each tie layer being 3 µm, the gas barrier layer being 3 µm, wherein the multilayer unoriented film thickness is 35 µm, wherein the gas barrier layer is 8.5% of the overall thickness range and one or both of the outermost layers being a mono- or multi-layer sealant layer of about 23% to 37% of the overall thickness range.
Further regarding claims 1 and 19, Francklow does not teach the sealant layer as consisting of at least 70 wt% of a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a highest peak melting temperature (Tm) of 100 °C or less and slip and/or antiblock agents.
Mudar teaches a packaging article to be used for both flexible packaging films and with rigid packaging members such as trays [0027], wherein when packaging foodstuffs such as meats liquids contained therein may contaminate and degrading sealing areas [0002-0006], such that adding a slip agent and optionally an anti-block agent to the sealant layer in an amount of 300 to 6000 ppm (0.03 to 0.6 wt%) of a slip agent (although examples show up to 20 wt% of a slip agent being beneficially included) lowers leak rates and allows hermetic sealing through contamination [0007-0008], wherein the seal layer may preferably contain an ionomer, heterogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer, and ethylene/unsaturated ester copolymers (i.e. EVA) but particularly preferred are homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers in amounts at least about 80 wt% [0031], wherein homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers comprise peak melting points of about 60 °C to 105 °C, preferably about 80 °C to 100 °C [0038-0042] and comprising a density from preferably 0.87 to 0.92 g/cc and most preferably about 0.89 to 0.91 g/cc with a melt index of 1 to 20 g/10min, most preferably about 4 to 8 g/10 min [0011], wherein examples demonstrate sealing layers consisting of Affinity PL 1280 (ssPE1) having a density of 0.900 g/cc and a melt index of 6.0 being used beneficially in combination with up to 20 wt% slip agent and optionally an antiblock masterbatch (AB1) based on Affinity PF 1140 (ssPE3) and fatty-acid based slip agents (Slip2/Slip3/Slip4) included as part of (linear) low density polyethylene-based masterbatches that may further include antiblock agents [Slip 1/Slip 5] [Table 2; Examples 1, 9-13, 15-16], wherein Entec evidences/further teaches that Affinity PL 1280 (or an updated form thereof) has a melting point of 96.1 °C and a seal initiation temperature 87.8 °C (Internal Method being the Dow Method, wherein SIT is the temperature at which the seal strength reaches 8.8 N/25.4 mm).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a sealant film consisting of a polyethylene plastomer/elastomer as claimed and slip and/or antiblock agents. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to the art to provide a strong leakproof and hermetic seal through contamination for foodstuffs, such as meat that comprise liquid components [Mudar] or a possibly updated form thereof [Entec].
Claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, 16, and 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Francklow et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0088010 A1) (hereinafter “Francklow”) in view of Kennedy et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2004/0048086 A1) (hereinafter “Kennedy”), as evidenced by Songhan (Exxonmobil EXACT 3027 Plastomer…) (hereinafter “Songhan”) and Itoh (JP 6076375 B2) (hereinafter “Itoh”), and further in view of Mudar et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0106429 A1) (hereinafter “Mudar”) and/or Su et al. (WO 2018/223358 A1) (hereinafter “Su”).
Regarding claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, 16, and 19-22, Francklow teaches a multilayer lidding film (packaging laminate) that may enclose meat or cheese [0056], the lidding film being of substantially polyethylene materials for beneficial recycling [0008-0010], the laminate comprising a multilayer machine direction oriented or biaxially oriented polyethylene film (All Figs. [2]) [0016] comprising one or more layers of high-density polyethylene (known inherent density ~0.93-0.97 g/cm3) [0031-0034] adhesively (All Figs. [4]) laminated to multilayer non-oriented polyethylene film (All Figs. [3]) comprising at least one outer layer of polyethylene, such as LDPE (known inherent density range of ~0.917-0.93 g/cm3) (All Figs. [3a]) and a lower polyethylene-based (sealant) layer intended to heat seal to the package at a temperature less than the melting temperature of the oriented polyethylene substrate [0006, 0035-0038], having disposed therebetween a gas barrier layer (All Figs. [5]) comprising ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer having flanking first and second tie layers (All Figs. [6]) for bonding to the unoriented polyethylene layers [0025], wherein the lidding film preferably does not contain more than 5 wt% of a polymer other than polyethylene, the thickness of the non-oriented polyethylene film may be 15 to 100 µm and an exemplary non-oriented polyethylene film of 7 layers comprises outer polyethylene layers of 8 µm and 5 µm, each tie layer being 3 µm, the gas barrier layer being 3 µm, wherein the multilayer unoriented film thickness is 35 µm, wherein the gas barrier layer is 8.5% of the overall thickness range and one or both of the outermost layers being a mono- or multi-layer sealant layer of about 23% to 37% of the overall thickness range.
Further regarding claims 1 and 19, Francklow does not teach the sealant layer as consisting of at least 70 wt% of a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a highest peak melting temperature (Tm) of 100 °C or less and slip and/or antiblock agents.
Kennedy teaches a sealant layer for many packaging applications including bags, casings, and lidstock, the sealant layer being a monolayer or with an optional seal assist layer acceptable for use with food such as meats [0142-0142=3] having a low seal initiation temperature from about 175 °F to 300 °F (80~149 °C), most preferably 175 °F to 200 °F (~80~93 °C) [0010, claims 12-13] and high seal strength of at least 2 lb/in (~8.8 N/25.4 mm) most preferably from about 5 to 10 lb/in (22.2~44.5 N/25.4 mm) [0018, claims 40-45], wherein the sealant layer is an ionomer with a seal assist layer or a blend of a first homogenous ethylene/alpha-olefin component having a density of 0.88 to 0.92 g/cc, most preferably 0.90 to 0.91 g/cc, and a second homogenous ethylene/alpha-olefin having a density of 0.86 to 0.91 g/cc, most preferably 0.86 to 0.879 g/cc at ratio of 5:95-95:5, most preferably 70:30-50:50 [0011, 0061-0062, claims 5 & 14-15], wherein the homogenous ethylene/alpha-olefin has a peak melting temperature from about 60 to 110 °C, most preferably from about 80 to 100 °C [0101], wherein the sealant layer may additionally comprise a barrier layer, preferably ethylene/vinyl alcohol [0065, 0079], which due to its polarity is preferably bonded to non-polar (polyethylene) based layers with a tie layer, preferably comprising an anhydride-modified/grafted (linear) polyethylene [0069, 0131], wherein an exemplary outer sealant layer comprises 65% of 0.900 g/cc homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer/elastomer such as Exact 3027 (which also can be used alone) and 35% of 0.87 g/cc homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin plastomer such as Tafmer P-0480, wherein the blend also works as a seal-assist layer (i.e. Affinity PM 1870 & Tamfer P-0480) [0179, 0182-0129, 0198, 0213-0217], wherein Exact 3027 comprises a melting point of 90 °C and a melt flow index/rate of 3.5 g/10 min as evidenced by Songhan and Tafmer P-0480 a melting point of 43 °C and a melt flow index/rate of 1.1 g/10 min as evidenced by Su.
AND
Mudar teaches a packaging article to be used for both flexible packaging films and with rigid packaging members such as trays [0027], wherein when packaging foodstuffs such as meats liquids contained therein may contaminate and degrading sealing areas [0002-0006], such that adding a slip agent and optionally an anti-block agent to the sealant layer in an amount of 300 to 6000 ppm (0.03 to 0.6 wt%) of a slip agent (although examples show up to 20 wt% of a slip agent being beneficially included) lowers leak rates and allows hermetic sealing through contamination [0007-0008], wherein the seal layer may preferably contain an ionomer, heterogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer, and ethylene/unsaturated ester copolymers (i.e. EVA) but particularly preferred are homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers in amounts of at least about 80 wt% [0031], wherein homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers comprise peak melting points of about 60 °C to 105 °C, preferably about 80 °C to 100 °C [0038-0042] and comprising a density from preferably 0.87 to 0.92 g/cc and most preferably about 0.89 to 0.91 g/cc with a melt index of 1 to 20 g/10min, most preferably about 4 to 8 g/10 min [0011], wherein examples demonstrate sealing layers consisting of are homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin plastomers/elastomers in combination with up to 20 wt% fatty-acid based slip agents (Slip2/Slip3/Slip4) included as part of polyethylene-based masterbatches that may further include antiblock agents [Slip 1/Slip 5] [Table 2; Examples 1, 9-13, 15-16].
AND/OR
Su teaches an ethylene-based alpha-olefin heat seal outer layer, wherein to achieve low slip on a packaging layer slip agents are typically/conventionally added to the ethylene-based alpha-olefin outer layer, wherein an improvement comprises a combination fatty acid non-migratory slip agent [0002-0003] at a combined weight of about 0.01 to 5.0 wt% [0075] and an antiblock agent that minimizes or prevents blocking in an amount from about 0 to 2.0 wt% [0072].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a sealing layer consisting of a polyethylene plastomer/elastomer as claimed and at least one of a slip agent or antiblock agent. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to provide the sealing area with the benefits of ethylene/alpha-olefins and ionomer sealants as a relatively thick layer at a low cost and is able to seal around surface imperfections or contamination [Kennedy, 0005] and to provide potentially contaminated sealing areas with improved hermeticity, fewer leaks, and/or greater seal strength [Mudar] AND/OR to maintain desirable and conventional low coefficient of friction during different processing conditions such as elevated temperature and/or pressure without decreasing heat sealing ability [Su].
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francklow in view of Yun/Dow 1 OR Mudar(/Entec) OR Kennedy/Mudar or Su, as applied to claim 1 above, even further in view of Paulino (U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0031191 A1) (hereinafter “Paulino”) OR Aubee et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2009/0029182 A1) (hereinafter “Aubee”) OR Clare (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0224952 A1) (hereinafter “Clare 2019”).
In the event that a second HDPE layer does not teach at least 20 wt% of a second ethylene-based polymer having a density of 0.958 g/cm3 or greater:
Paulino teaches an oriented polyethylene heat seal film, wherein the oriented polyethylene layer is also preferably a blend of two or more high density polyolefin resins, wherein either one or the other would inherently be greater than about 50 wt%, each comprising a density of 0.958 or 0.96 g/cc to achieve a balance of processability and film properties [0018-0019].
OR
Aubee teaches a multilayer barrier film, wherein HDPE films preferably comprise at least two different HDPEs having a density of at least 0.95 g/cc, preferably greater than 0.958 g/cc [0020] at a 30:70-70:30 weight ratio [0028-0030], wherein the blend of the two polymers allows for increased barrier properties, which allows less polar barrier polymers such as EVOH to be used or would increase overall barrier properties if the same amount were used [0006-0007, 0024, 0053].
OR
Clare teaches a recyclable polyethylene packaging laminate comprising layers of HDPE to provide stiffness at a first surface, a sealable layer at a second surface, and having an EVOH barrier layer disposed therein flanked by tie layers [0140-0143], wherein the HDPE is preferably a blend of HDPE resins comprising 10 to 30 wt% of a first HDPE A having a density of 0.95 to 0.97 g/cc, with an exemplary embodiment comprising a density of 0.963 g/cc, and a second HDPE B having a density of 0.95 to 0.97 g/cc, with exemplary embodiments ranging from 0.958-0.962 g/cc [0111-0132], wherein the blend of polyethylene homopolymers having different melt indices/molecular weight distributions provides enhanced barrier properties [0118, 0132] with further improvements being made with an EVOH barrier as required [0139].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide at least 20 wt% of a second ethylene-based polymer having a density within or near the claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to achieve a balance of processability and film properties [Paulino; 0018-0019] OR increase barrier properties in combination with or in replacement of polar polymers such as EVOH [Aubee; 0006-0007, 0024, 0053] OR to provide improved/optimized barrier performance [Clare; 0118, 0132, 0139].
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francklow in view of Yun/Dow 1 OR Mudar(/Entec) OR Kennedy/Mudar or Su, as applied to claim 1 above, even further in view of Yamada et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0347148 A1) (hereinafter “Yamada”) and Wang et al. (WO 2020/190507 A1) (hereinafter “Wang”).
Regarding claim 7, the oriented polyethylene film is not taught to also comprise a barrier layer.
Yamada teaches a highly recyclable [0005, 0012] polyethylene-based laminated packaging material comprising a multilayer heat-sealable laminate comprising a gas barrier resin layer (All Figs. [11]) comprising preferably EVOH [0083-0085], an adhesive (tie) resin layer, preferably polyolefin or modified polyolefin [0097], and a heat seal layer (All Figs. [13]) comprising a polyethylene (co/ter)polymer [0098] and further adhesively laminated to a substrate (All Figs. [17]) to form the packaging laminate (All Figs. [16]), wherein the substrate is a uniaxially (machine direction) or biaxially stretched and comprising the same polyolefin as the heat seal layer, and preferably comprises at least one high-density polyethylene (known, inherent range 0.93-0.97 g/cc), and optionally a medium density polyethylene (0.926-0.94 g/cc) at a weight ratio of the HDPE of about 10% to about 50 wt% [0127-0155], wherein the substrate can be a laminated substrate (All Figs. [20]) also comprising a gas barrier resin (All Figs. [22]) [0312-0314] comprising EVOH [0360-0364], wherein the packaging film can comprise the heat-sealable laminate comprising the gas barrier resin and the laminated substrate comprising the gas barrier resin [0401-0402, 0436-0438], which can be included between any two layers in the packaging laminate [0122, 0442]. Yamada also teaches the laminated packaging material further comprises an intermediate layer also comprising polyethylene, similar to or the same as the substrate can be formed between the substrate and heat-sealable laminate, which may include the gas barrier resin thereon with a second adhesive layer disposed therebetween [0121, 0302-0303, 0408-0411, 0418-0422, 0426-0429, 0436-0438].
AND
Wang teaches a polyethylene-based packaging laminate [0011-0013] that barrier layers, such as EVOH [0096], can be layered/duplicated and laminated before or after stretching, wherein two barrier layers provide enhanced barrier properties [0095, 0108].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide the polyethylene film with a barrier layer as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide any polyethylene film-element in a packaging laminate with a barrier layer [Yamada] to enhance barrier properties [Wang, 0108].
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francklow in view of Yun/Dow OR Mudar(/Entec) OR Kennedy/Mudar or Su, as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Clare et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0398544 A1) (hereinafter “Clare 2020”) AND/OR Zheng et al. (WO 2018/063578 A1) (hereinafter “Zheng”).
Regarding claim 11, Francklow teaches the tie layer preferably comprises ethylene-(meth)acrylic acid grafted/modified polymer [0025], but does not teach an anhydride-modified linear low density polyethylene and a high/medium/low/linear low density polyethylene.
Clare 2020 teaches recyclable polyethylene packaging laminates [0001, 0030], wherein a first surface layer is a high density polyethylene and a second surface layer is a linear low density polyethylene-based sealing layer, wherein a barrier layer is disposed therein [claims 1-2, 7-8, 13-14], wherein the EVOH is bonded with tie layers comprising a blend of 80 wt% polyethylene, which comprises a linear low density polymer, and 20 wt% of a tie resin comprising maleic anhydride modified polyolefin [0124-0126], which ensures good adhesion of the ethylene vinyl alcohol with the polyethylene layers [0126].
AND/OR
Zheng teaches a tie layer B for bonding a barrier layer C such as ethylene vinyl alcohol to a polyethylene layer A, wherein the tie layer comprises 1 to 99 wt%, such as 80 to 95 wt%, of a first composition comprising an ethylene-based polymer, such as an ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer/copolymer (pg. 6), and 1-99 wt%, such as 5 to 20 wt%, of a maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene, such that it results in improved dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide the tie layer as comprising an anhydride-modified linear low density polyethylene and a claimed polyethylene. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to ensure good adhesion of the ethylene vinyl alcohol with the polyethylene layers [Clare 2020; 0126] AND/OR to improve dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (Zheng; pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18), optionally further motivating the use of the tie-layer blend of Clare 2020.
Claims 1-2, 7, 9-10, 12, 16, and 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Jones et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0370651 A1) (hereinafter “Jones”) in view of Yun et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0099492 A1) (hereinafter “Yun”) and Dow (Technical Information for Affinity PL 1881G) (hereinafter “Dow 1”).
Regarding claims 1-2, 7, 9-10, 12, 16, and 19-22, Jones teaches a recyclable, laminated polyolefin-based film structure beneficial for flexible film packaging such as pouches, bags, overwraps usable for food items, liquids, pharmaceuticals, among other consumable products [0003], the laminated polyolefin-based film comprising two or more film plies comprising a first ply comprising a polyethylene-based film (All Figs. [28]) defining an innermost sealant layer for providing a hermetic seal in a finished packaging article and preferably comprises a low seal initiation temperature/melting temperature comprising any number of polyethylene homopolymers, copolymers, and terpolymers (plastomers/elastomers) [0047, 0059] and a second ply comprising an outermost polyethylene-based film comprising any number of polyethylene homopolymers, such as HDPE (0.94~0.97 g/cc) or LDPE (0.91-0.94 g/cc), copolymers, and terpolymers (density range inherently ranging from about 0.88 to about 0.97 g/cc) and having an outer energy-cured coating [0047, 0052-0053], wherein the plies are adhered to each other via an adhesive, such as a solvent-based adhesives, solventless adhesives, and water-based adhesives [0051], wherein the first and/or second the polyethylene based film ply/plies further comprise a barrier layer comprising an ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) between an innermost/sealant and/or second/outer polyethylene layers (All Figs. [44]) attached thereto via flanking tie layers, such as maleic anhydride [0101], wherein a sealing temperature ranges from a sealing initiation temperature (initial surface layer melted) of about 80 °C to 260 °C (sealing window of 180 °C), wherein the outermost coated polyethylene-based layer comprises at least 180 °C melting temperature difference from the innermost sealant layer [0019, 0056, 0100, Table 1].
Further regarding claims 1 and 19, Jones does not teach the sealant layer as being 25-60% the thickness of the sealant film and consisting of at least 70 wt% of a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a highest peak melting temperature (Tm) of 100 °C or less and slip and/or antiblock agents.
Yun teaches that oriented polyethylene film are adhesively laminated to an unoriented monolayer sealant film, improved over oriented sealant films that negatively impact the sealing performance and improved over common polyethylene having a narrow sealing window, comprising at least 70 wt% and up to 100 wt% (consisting of) [0047-0048] of a polyethylene plastomer or elastomer among other choices, the polyolefin plastomer comprising a single-site or metallocene catalyzed (ethylene/alpha-olefin) copolymer having a density of 0.885 to 0.915 g/cc and a melt index of 0.5 to 20 g/10 min [0050-0051], wherein an exemplary embodiment comprises Affinity PL 1881 G [0052], with wherein the heat seal initiation temperature is 105 °C or less, preferably 95 °C or less [0023, 0044] to provide a sealing window of at least 15 °C [0027] and demonstrating a sealing window much larger than that as measured from the seal initiation point, but Yun does not explicitly motivate the usage of a sealant layer consisting of Affinity PL 1881 G, wherein Yun demonstrates a multilayer sealing film having three layers with the plastomer-containing sealing layer comprising a thickness of 12 microns in relation to an overall film thickness of 36 microns (~33%) [0088], which correlates well to the unoriented sealing film example set forth above in Franklow.
Dow 1 teaches that Affinity PL 1881 G contains a slip additive at about 750 ppm (0.075 wt%) and an antiblock additive at about 2500 (0.25 wt%), which provides a sealant excellent in hot tack strength reaching 8.8 N/25.4 mm by the melting point of 100 °C and a seal initiation temperature at 85 °C for a low temperature sealability and comprising outstanding optics for the packaging of meats and cheese, dry foods, and consumer goods, suited particularly for high-speed lines [Dow 1].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a sealant film consisting of a polyethylene plastomer/elastomer as claimed and slip and/or antiblock agents. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to the art for improved sealant films over LDPE/LLDPE comprising an exemplary embodiment [Yun] that provides a sealant excellent in hot tack strength reaching 8.8 N/25.4 mm by the seal initiation temperature at 85 °C for a low temperature sealability, ability to seal through contamination, and outstanding optics [Dow].
Claims 1-2, 7, 9-10, 12, 16, and 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Jones et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0370651 A1) (hereinafter “Jones”) in view of Mudar et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0106429 A1) (hereinafter “Mudar”), as evidenced by or further in view of Entec (Dow Affinity PL 1280 G Polyolefin) (hereinafter “Entec”).
Regarding claims 1-2, 7-10, 12, 16, and 19-22, Jones teaches a recyclable, laminated polyolefin-based film structure beneficial for flexible film packaging such as pouches, bags, overwraps usable for food items, liquids, pharmaceuticals, among other consumable products [0003], the laminated polyolefin-based film comprising two or more film plies comprising a first ply comprising a polyethylene-based film (All Figs. [28]) defining an innermost sealant layer for providing a hermetic seal in a finished packaging article and preferably comprises a low seal initiation temperature/melting temperature comprising any number of polyethylene homopolymers, copolymers, and terpolymers (plastomers/elastomers) [0047, 0059] and a second ply comprising an outermost polyethylene-based film comprising any number of polyethylene homopolymers, such as HDPE (0.94~0.97 g/cc) or LDPE (0.91-0.94 g/cc), copolymers, and terpolymers (density range inherently ranging from about 0.88 to about 0.97 g/cc) and having an outer energy-cured coating [0047, 0052-0053], wherein the plies are adhered to each other via an adhesive, such as a solvent-based adhesives, solventless adhesives, and water-based adhesives [0051], wherein the first and/or second the polyethylene based film ply/plies further comprise a barrier layer comprising an ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) between an innermost/sealant and/or second/outer polyethylene layers (All Figs. [44]) attached thereto via flanking tie layers, such as maleic anhydride [0101], wherein a sealing temperature ranges from a sealing initiation temperature (initial surface layer melted) of about 80 °C to 260 °C (sealing window of 180 °C), wherein the outermost coated polyethylene-based layer comprises at least 180 °C melting temperature difference from the innermost sealant layer [0019, 0056, 0100, Table 1].
Further regarding claims 1 and 19, Jones does not teach the sealant layer as being 25-60% the thickness of the sealant film and consisting of at least 70 wt% of a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a highest peak melting temperature (Tm) of 100 °C or less and slip and/or antiblock agents.
Mudar teaches a packaging article to be used for both flexible packaging films and with rigid packaging members such as trays [0027], wherein when packaging foodstuffs such as meats liquids contained therein may contaminate and degrading sealing areas [0002-0006], such that adding a slip agent and optionally an anti-block agent to the sealant layer in an amount of 300 to 6000 ppm (0.03 to 0.6 wt%) of a slip agent (although examples show up to 20 wt% of a slip agent being beneficially included) lowers leak rates and allows hermetic sealing through contamination [0007-0008], wherein the seal layer may preferably contain an ionomer, heterogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer, and ethylene/unsaturated ester copolymers (i.e. EVA) but particularly preferred are homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers in amounts of at least about 70 wt% or even at least about 80 wt% [0031], wherein homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers comprise peak melting points of about 60 °C to 105 °C, preferably about 80 °C to 100 °C [0038-0042] and comprising a density from preferably 0.87 to 0.92 g/cc and most preferably about 0.89 to 0.91 g/cc with a melt index of 1 to 20 g/10min, most preferably about 4 to 8 g/10 min [0011], wherein examples demonstrate sealing layers consisting of Affinity PL 1280 (ssPE1) having a density of 0.900 g/cc and a melt index of 6.0 being used beneficially in combination with up to 20 wt% slip agent and optionally an antiblock masterbatch (AB1) based on Affinity PF 1140 (ssPE3) and fatty-acid based slip agents (Slip2/Slip3/Slip4) included as part of (linear) low density polyethylene-based masterbatches that may further include antiblock agents [Slip 1/Slip 5] [Table 2; Examples 1, 9-13, 15-16], wherein Entec evidences/further teaches that Affinity PL 1280 (or an updated form thereof) has a melting point of 96.1 °C and a seal initiation temperature 87.8 °C (Internal Method being the Dow Method, wherein SIT is the temperature at which the seal strength reaches 8.8 N/25.4 mm), wherein Mudar also provides some exemplary thicknesses [Table 1] of the proposed seal multilayer structure being 5 mil (127 µm), the tie layer being 1 mil (25.4 µm), and the barrier layer being 2 mil (50.8 µm), wherein the one or more of the optional core layers may be attributable to the outer layer of the first ply and/or the inner layer of the second ply and the outer/abuse layer may be attributable the outer layer of the second ply [0078-0079] giving an approximate total thickness of 8 to 17 mils, wherein the barrier structure would be about 12 to 25% of the overall thickness of the multilayer film and the sealant layer would be about 30-62% of the overall thickness of the multilayer film.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a sealant film consisting of a polyethylene plastomer/elastomer as claimed and slip and/or antiblock agents. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to the art to provide a strong leakproof and hermetic seal through contamination for foodstuffs, such as meat that comprise liquid components [Mudar] or an updated form thereof [Entec].
Claims 1-2, 7, 9-10, 12, 16, and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Jones et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0370651 A1) (hereinafter “Jones”) in view of Kennedy et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2004/0048086 A1) (hereinafter “Kennedy”), as evidenced by Songhan (Exxonmobil EXACT 3027 Plastomer…) (hereinafter “Songhan”) and Itoh (JP 6076375 B2) (hereinafter “Itoh”), and Mudar et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0106429 A1) (hereinafter “Mudar”) and/or Su et al. (WO 2018/223358 A1) (hereinafter “Su”).
Regarding claims 1-2, 7-10, 12, 16, and 19-22, Jones teaches a recyclable, laminated polyolefin-based film structure beneficial for flexible film packaging such as pouches, bags, overwraps usable for food items, liquids, pharmaceuticals, among other consumable products [0003], the laminated polyolefin-based film comprising two or more film plies comprising a first ply comprising a polyethylene-based film (All Figs. [28]) defining an innermost sealant layer for providing a hermetic seal in a finished packaging article and preferably comprises a low seal initiation temperature/melting temperature comprising any number of polyethylene homopolymers, copolymers, and terpolymers (plastomers/elastomers) [0047, 0059] and a second ply comprising an outermost polyethylene-based film comprising any number of polyethylene homopolymers, such as HDPE (0.94~0.97 g/cc) or LDPE (0.91-0.94 g/cc), copolymers, and terpolymers (density range inherently ranging from about 0.88 to about 0.97 g/cc) and having an outer energy-cured coating [0047, 0052-0053], wherein the plies are adhered to each other via an adhesive, such as a solvent-based adhesives, solventless adhesives, and water-based adhesives [0051], wherein the first and/or second the polyethylene based film ply/plies further comprise a barrier layer comprising an ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) between an innermost/sealant and/or second/outer polyethylene layers (All Figs. [44]) attached thereto via flanking tie layers, such as maleic anhydride [0101], wherein a sealing temperature ranges from a sealing initiation temperature (initial surface layer melted) of about 80 °C to 260 °C (sealing window of 180 °C), wherein the outermost coated polyethylene-based layer comprises at least 180 °C melting temperature difference from the innermost sealant layer [0019, 0056, 0100, Table 1].
Further regarding claims 1 and 19, Jones does not teach the sealant layer as being 25-60% the thickness of the sealant film and consisting of at least 70 wt% of a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a highest peak melting temperature (Tm) of 100 °C or less and slip and/or antiblock agents.
Kennedy teaches a sealant layer for many packaging applications including bags, casings, and lidstock, the sealant layer being a monolayer or with an optional seal assist layer having an equivalent sealing initiation/melting temperature acceptable for use with food such as meats [0142-0142=3] having a low seal initiation temperature from about 175 °F to 300 °F (80~149 °C), most preferably 175 °F to 200 °F (~80~93 °C) [0010, claims 12-13] and high seal strength of at least 2 lb/in (~8.8 N/25.4 mm) most preferably from about 5 to 10 lb/in (22.2~44.5 N/25.4 mm) [0018, claims 40-45], wherein the sealant layer is an ionomer with a seal assist layer or a blend of a first homogenous ethylene/alpha-olefin component having a density of 0.88 to 0.92 g/cc, most preferably 0.90 to 0.91 g/cc, and a second homogenous ethylene/alpha-olefin having a density of 0.86 to 0.91 g/cc, most preferably 0.86 to 0.879 g/cc at ratio of 5:95-95:5, most preferably 70:30-50:50 [0011, 0061-0062, claims 5 & 14-15] with an optional seal assist layer, wherein the homogenous ethylene/alpha-olefin has a peak melting temperature from about 60 to 110 °C, most preferably from about 80 to 100 °C [0101], wherein the sealant layer may additionally comprise a barrier layer, preferably ethylene/vinyl alcohol [0065, 0079], which due to its polarity is preferably bonded to non-polar (polyethylene) based layers with a tie layer, preferably comprising an anhydride-modified/grafted (linear) polyethylene [0069, 0131], wherein an exemplary outer sealant layer comprises ionomer or 65% 0.900 g/cc homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer/elastomer such as Exact 3027 (which also can be used alone) and 35% 0.87 g/cc homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin plastomer such as Tafmer P-0480, wherein the blend also works as a seal-assist layer (i.e. Affinity PM 1870 & Tamfer P-0480) [0179, 0182-0129, 0198, 0213-0217], wherein Exact 3027 comprises a melting point of 90 °C and a melt flow index/rate of 3.5 g/10 min as evidenced by Songhan and Tafmer P-0480 a melting point of 43 °C and a melt flow index/rate of 1.1 g/10 min as evidenced by Su, wherein the outer sealant layer (with the optional seal assist) as comprising 1 to 20%, most preferably 6 to 8%, and with the seal assist layer forming 11 to 70%, most preferably 16 to 38%, of the film thickness the sealant and seal assist comprising at least 0.15 to 3 mil (3.8 to 76.8 µm), more preferably 0.5 to 1 mil (12.7 to 25.4 µm) of a film having 0.5 to 15 mil (12.7 to 381 µm), preferably 2 to 8 mils (50.8 to 203.2 µm) [0016, 0125], which also gives an approximate preferable range of 6 to 50% of the overall thickness of the multilayer film. Furthermore, exemplary thicknesses are given for a seal/seal assist in comprising 27% or 40% the thickness with the remainder comprising a bulk layer [0129-0130]. Alternatively, exemplary tie and EVOH barrier layers are given with 7%/10% and 6% of the total thickness of the multilayer film and the structural thermoforming/abuse layer(s) being 6 to 52% considered as part of the outer bondable layer of the multilayer film [0132-0133]. As applied to the structure of the first ply of Jones innermost sealant/tie/barrier/tie/outer structural bonding layer gives an estimated sealant layer relative thickness of about 27 to 51% of the overall film thickness and an estimated barrier layer relative thickness of about 6 to about 10%.
AND
Mudar teaches a packaging article to be used for both flexible packaging films and with rigid packaging members such as trays [0027], wherein when packaging foodstuffs such as meats liquids contained therein may contaminate and degrading sealing areas [0002-0006], such that adding a slip agent and optionally an anti-block agent to the sealant layer in an amount of 300 to 6000 ppm (0.03 to 0.6 wt%) of a slip agent (although examples show up to 20 wt% of a slip agent being beneficially included) lowers leak rates and allows hermetic sealing through contamination [0007-0008], wherein the seal layer may preferably contain an ionomer, heterogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer, and ethylene/unsaturated ester copolymers (i.e. EVA) but particularly preferred are homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers in amounts of at least about 80 wt% [0031], wherein homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers comprise peak melting points of about 60 °C to 105 °C, preferably about 80 °C to 100 °C [0038-0042] and comprising a density from preferably 0.87 to 0.92 g/cc and most preferably about 0.89 to 0.91 g/cc with a melt index of 1 to 20 g/10min, most preferably about 4 to 8 g/10 min [0011], wherein examples demonstrate sealing layers consisting of are homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefin plastomers/elastomers in combination with up to 20 wt% fatty-acid based slip agents (Slip2/Slip3/Slip4) included as part of (linear) low density polyethylene-based masterbatches that may further include antiblock agents [Slip 1/Slip 5] [Table 2; Examples 1, 9-13, 15-16].
AND/OR
Su teaches an ethylene-based alpha-olefin heat seal outer layer, wherein to achieve low slip on a packaging layer slip agents are typically/conventionally added to the ethylene-based alpha-olefin outer layer, wherein an improvement comprises a combination fatty acid non-migratory slip agent [0002-0003] at a combined weight of about 0.01 to 5.0 wt% [0075] and an antiblock agent that minimizes or prevents blocking in an amount from about 0 to 2.0 wt% [0072].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a sealing layer consisting of an ionomer or polyethylene plastomer/elastomer as claimed and at least one of a slip agent or antiblock agent. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to provide the sealing area with the benefits of ethylene/alpha-olefins and ionomer sealants as a relatively thick layer at a low cost and is able to seal around surface imperfections or contamination [Kennedy, 0005] and to provide potentially contaminated sealing areas with improved hermeticity, fewer leaks, and/or greater seal strength [Mudar], such as providing the 5 wt% LDPE in a sealant film example in Kennedy [0126] as a slip/antiblock LDPE-based masterbatch, AND/OR to maintain desirable and conventional low coefficient of friction during different processing conditions such as elevated temperature and/or pressure without decreasing heat sealing ability [Su].
Further regarding claim 1 and 19, the combinations of Exact 3027 (or SLP9042) and Tafmer P-0480 (blends of homogeneous ethylene/alpha-olefins, wherein one has a slightly lower density, having a Tm below 100 °C)) [Seal Key G & I, Table X1] give the highest bonding strengths to themselves, reaching 2 lb/in at 200 °F (8.8 N/25.4 mm at 93 °C) and between 5 and 10 lb/in at 220 °F (between 22.2 and 44.5 N/25.4 mm at about 105 °C) and above 10 lb/in at 250 °F (>44.5 N/25.4 mm at about 120 °C); seals of ionomers (Suryln 1705/1650) to themselves being between 2 and 5 at 200 °F (between 8.8 and 22.5 N/25.4 mm at 93 °C), between 7 and 9 lb/in at 220 °F (between 31.1 and 40.0 N/25.4 mm at about 105 °C), and between 8 and 10 lb/in at 220 °F (between 35.6 and 44.5 N/25.4 mm at about 120 °C); and seals of ionomer (Suryln 1650) capped multilayer sealants (i.e. seal assisted) to themselves, behaving the same or somewhat less (up to ~33% less) than ionomers alone, being above 5 lbs/in at 200 °F (~22.5 N/25.4 mm at93 °C) and above 6 lb/in at 220 °F (~26.7 N/25.4 mm at about 105 °C) and above 7 lb/in by 250 °F (~31.1 at about 120 °C) [Fig. 28; H to H, wherein blended polyethylene plastomer/elastomer capped multilayer sealants would have been expected to perform the same as the blended monolayers or somewhat worse (up to ~33% less) but still within or obviously near the claimed ranges (i.e. 0.66 lb/in at 200 °F, 8.8 N/25.4 mm at 93 °C; between 5 and 10 lb/in at 220 °F; between 7.4 and 14.8 N/25.4 mm at about 105 °C) and above 10 lb/in at 250 °F (>14.8 at about 120 °C).
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jones in view of Yun/Dow OR Mudar(/Entec) OR Kennedy/Mudar or Su, as applied to claim 1 above, even further in view of Grefenstein (U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0122439 A1) (hereinafter “Grefenstein”).
Regarding claims 3-5, an oriented film of uniaxial/biaxial orientation is not taught.
Grefenstein teaches a sealable packaging laminate comprising a gas barrier layer comprising EVOH [0003], wherein it is preferred for reasons of recyclability to produce packaging laminate consisting of a single material whenever possible, such as only polyethylene-based materials or with acceptably low quantities of compatible plastics [0007], and wherein it is known to alter properties of the packaging laminate via uniaxial in the machine/ longitudinal direction or in a bi-directional orientation in order to improve rigidity, tensile strength, toughness, and transparency, and if included barrier properties [0006, 0041, 0043].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide orientation in the machine direction (uniaxial) and also optionally in the traverse direction (biaxial) direction. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide an improved rigidity, tensile strength, toughness, and transparency [0006, 0041, 0043].
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jones in view of Yun/Dow OR Mudar(/Entec) OR Kennedy/Mudar or Su, as applied to claim 1 above, even further in view of Paulino (U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0031191 A1) (hereinafter “Paulino”) OR Aubee et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2009/0029182 A1) (hereinafter “Aubee”) OR Clare (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0224952 A1) (hereinafter “Clare 2019”).
Regarding claim 6, the prior art does not teach the polyethylene substrate as further comprising a second ethylene-based polymer as claimed.
Paulino teaches an oriented polyethylene heat seal film, wherein a sealing initiation temperature is below 200 °F (93.3 °C), which is formed by a metallocene linear low density polyethylene (mLLDPE) blended with a polyolefin elastomer/plastomer [0027], wherein the oriented polyethylene layer is also preferably a blend of two or more high density polyolefin resins, wherein either one or the other would inherently be greater than 50 wt%, each comprising a density of 0.958 or 0.96 g/cc to achieve a balance of processability and film properties [0018-0019].
OR
Aubee teaches a multilayer barrier film, wherein HDPE films preferably comprise at least two different HDPEs having a density of at least 0.95 g/cc, preferably greater than 0.958 g/cc [0020] at a 30:70-70:30 weight ratio [0028-0030], wherein the blend of the two polymers allows for increased barrier properties, which allows less polar barrier polymers such as EVOH to be used or would increase overall barrier properties if the same amount were used [0006-0007, 0024, 0053].
OR
Clare teaches a recyclable polyethylene packaging laminate comprising layers of HDPE to provide stiffness at a first surface, a sealable layer at a second surface, and having an EVOH barrier layer disposed therein flanked by tie layers [0140-0143], wherein the HDPE is preferably a blend of HDPE resins comprising 10 to 30 wt% of a first HDPE A having a density of 0.95 to 0.97 g/cc, with an exemplary embodiment comprising a density of 0.963 g/cc, and a second HDPE B having a density of 0.95 to 0.97 g/cc, with exemplary embodiments ranging from 0.958-0.962 g/cc [0111-0132], wherein the blend of polyethylene homopolymers having different melt indices/molecular weight distributions provides enhanced barrier properties [0118, 0132] with further improvements being made with an EVOH barrier as required [0139].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide at least 20 wt% of a second ethylene-based polymer having a density within or near the claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to achieve a balance of processability and film properties [Paulino; 0018-0019] OR increase barrier properties in combination with or in replacement of polar polymers such as EVOH [Aubee; 0006-0007, 0024, 0053] OR to provide improved/optimized barrier performance [Clare; 0118, 0132, 0139].
Claims 8 & 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jones in view of Yun/Dow OR Mudar(/Entec) OR Kennedy/Mudar or Su, as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Zheng et al. (WO 2018/063578 A1) (hereinafter “Zheng”).
Regarding claims 8 and 11, while maleic anhydride is suggested, a specific tie layer composition or thickness is not taught.
Zheng teaches a tie layer B for bonding a barrier layer C such as ethylene vinyl alcohol to a polyethylene layer A, wherein the tie layer comprises 1 to 99 wt%, such as 80 to 95 wt%, of a first composition comprising an ethylene-based polymer, such as an ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer/copolymer (pg. 6), and 1-99 wt%, such as 5 to 20 wt%, of a maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene, such that it results in improved dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18), wherein the EVOH is 0.2 or 0.4 mil of a 4 mil film giving a calculated thickness percentage of 5% or 10% (Example 7, pgs. 46-47).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide the tie layer as comprising an anhydride-modified linear low-density polyethylene and a claimed polyethylene with the barrier layer having a thickness percentage in relation to the overall film as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (Zheng; pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jones in view of Yun/Dow OR Mudar(/Entec) OR Kennedy/Mudar or Su, as applied to claim 1 above, alone or further in view of Ochiai et al. (JP 11-320739 A) (hereinafter “Ochiai”) and Banangi (CN 102825875 A) (hereinafter “Banangi”).
In the event that an outer layer of the non-sealant ply comprising low density polyethylene contacting the adhesive is not taught:
Ochiai teaches a bonding/lamination layer on the multilayer sealant film adjacent the adhesive comprising a low-density polyethylene [0008-0009, 0011], wherein the base film is an oriented high-density polyethylene in view of Grefenstein.
Banangi teaches an innermost sealing multilayer film (Fig. 2 [402/404/406]) [0054] attached to a barrier film (Fig. 2 [306/304/302]) via a tie layer (Fig. 2 [408]), which is attached to a skin/surface layer (Fig. 2 [210]) via a second tie layer (Fig. 2 [212]) and a multilayer outer film (Fig. 2 [202/204/206]) is bonded via an adhesive layer (Fig. 2 [208]) to the skin/surface layer, wherein the lowest composite layer (Fig. 2 [206]) comprises a blend of LDPE and LLDPE and/or HDPE [0052, 0057] and a main layer of HDPE (Fig. 2 [204]) and an outermost printed layer (Fig. 2 [202]) and wherein the skin layer comprises a low density polyethylene that facilitates bonding of the layers in the composite sheet [0049, 0052].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a LDPE-based layer as one of a few limited choices in addition to an HDPE main film. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide an attachment/lamination layer [Ochiai] to the base film as well as the skin/surface layer [Banangi; 0049, 0052, 0057].
NEW REJECTIONS
Claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, 16, & 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francklow et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0088010 A1) (hereinafter “Francklow”) in view of Siu et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2013/0260122 A1) (hereinafter “Siu”) and optionally Liang et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0207997 A1) (hereinafter “Liang”).
Regarding claims 1-6, 8-10, 16, and 19-22, Francklow teaches a multilayer lidding film (packaging laminate) that may enclose meat or cheese [0056], the lidding film being of substantially polyethylene materials for beneficial recycling over those of (oriented) polyester, nylon, and polypropylene [0008-0010], the laminate comprising a multilayer machine direction oriented or biaxially oriented polyethylene film (All Figs. [2]) [0016] comprising layers of high-density polyethylene (known inherent density ~0.93-0.97 g/cm3) [0031-0034] adhesively (All Figs. [4]) laminated to multilayer non-oriented polyethylene film (All Figs. [3]) comprising at least one outer layer of polyethylene, such as LDPE (known inherent density range of ~0.917-0.93 g/cm3) (All Figs. [3a]) and a lower polyethylene-based (sealant) layer intended to heat seal to the package at a temperature less than the melting temperature of the oriented polyethylene substrate [0006, 0035-0038], having disposed therebetween a gas barrier layer (All Figs. [5]) comprising ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer having flanking first and second tie layers (All Figs. [6]) for bonding to the unoriented polyethylene layers [0025], wherein the lidding film preferably does not contain more than 5 wt% of a polymer other than polyethylene, wherein the thickness of the non-oriented polyethylene film may be 15 to 100 µm and an exemplary non-oriented polyethylene film of 7 layers comprises outer polyethylene layers of 8 µm and 5 µm, each tie layer being 3 µm, the gas barrier layer being 3 µm, wherein the multilayer unoriented film thickness is 35 µm, wherein the gas barrier layer is 8.5% of the overall thickness range and one or both of the outermost layers being a mono- or multi-layer sealant layer of about 23% to 37% of the overall thickness range.
Further regarding claims 1 and 19, Francklow does not teach the sealant layer as consisting of at least 70 wt% of a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a highest peak melting temperature (Tm) of 100 °C or less and slip and/or antiblock agents.
Siu teaches a low seal initiation lid for rigid substrates, wherein a low heat seal initiation temperature helps to ensure fast packaging line speeds and a broad sealing window, which can better accommodate variability and provide tolerance in processing conditions such as pressure and temperature [0004, 0012], wherein in lids seal strengths of 1-5 lbs per inch (4.4-22 N/25 mm) are desirable [0005], wherein the sealant layer comprises a blend of two components in a ratio of 5-95 wt% of a first component, preferably 10 to 85 wt% or 20 to 75 wt%, wherein the first component is a polyethylene plastomer with a density between 0.84 and 0.91 g/cc, a melt index between 3 and 10 g/10 min exhibiting a Vicat softening point in the 40-60 °C, such as Affinity 8200 G, and a second component is a different polyethylene plastomer having a density between 0.88 to 0.92 g/cc, a melt index between 6 and 10 g/10 min, and a Vicat softening point in the 60 to 90 °C, such as Affinity PT 1450 G1 [0022-0026], wherein preferably antiblocking additive is added at 1000 to 10,000 ppm (0.1 to 1 wt%) to prevent sticking and a slip agent is added to modify coefficient of friction in a general amount of 100 to 2000 ppm (0.01 to 0.2 wt%) [0027] and the thickness of the seal layer should be between 10 and 100 microns, preferably 15 to 75 microns [0029], wherein in an example an 80 ga (20.32 µm) blend of Affinity PT 1450 G1 evidenced as having a density of 0.902 g/cc, a melt index of 7.5 g/10 min, a Vicat softening temperature of 77.2 °C , a seal initiation temperature of 82.8 °C (4.4 N/25.4 mm), and a melting temperature of 97.8 °C, and Affinity EG 8200 evidenced as having a density of 0.87 g/cc, a melt index of 5.0 g/10 min, a Vicat softening temperature of 45.0 °C, and a melting temperature of 63.0 °C [0035], wherein while the ratio of the two is not taught, at any ratio the blend would comprise a melting point, heat seal initiation temperature, and sealing window within the claimed range, wherein at 250 °F (~120 °C) a seal strength of 2 lbf/in (8.8 N/25 mm) is achieved, which may vary based on processing conditions, the exact ratio of the blend, and the polyethylene layer of Francklow. The estimated blend density (no ratio given) may range from about 0.87 to about .92 g/cc, preferably about 0.88 to 0.91 g/cc, and the thickness range applied to the unoriented seal laminate of Franklow (13µm/3µm/3µm/3µm/13 µm) either added to the lower layers, providing a calculated sealant thickness percentage range of greater than 30% and an exemplary value of 36.7%, or replacing them entirely, providing a sealant thickness percentage range of greater than 38.5% and an exemplary value of 45.8%, with providing barrier thickness values of less than 8.1% for replace and less than 6% for added, with exemplary values of 7.1% for replace and 5.4% for added.
Furthermore, Liang teaches when an outer layer of high density polyethylene an upper limit of seal temperature is about 270 °F (132 °C), as opposed to polyester when an upper limit is 420 °F and that a difference (minimum window) from a seal initiation temperature to the upper limit of the seal temperature for the outer layer must at least 50 °F (28 °C difference), preferably 75 °F (36.5 °C difference), and even preferably 100 °F (55 °C difference), wherein the seal initiation temperature must be lower than 104 °C, preferably lower than about 90.5 °C, and even preferably lower than about 76.7 °C, which would likely have been provided by the low seal initiation sealant blend of Siu.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a sealant consisting of a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer and slip and antiblock additive. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide a polyethylene sealant with a low seal initiation temperature and high sealing window that would work for not only polyester and polypropylene but also (high density) polyethylene [0004, 0012] with beneficial age-resistance and abuse tolerance [0012], while also providing a low coefficient of friction and nonsticking characteristics [0012, 0027].
Regarding claim 12, the laminating adhesive is a solids (solvent-free) or solvent-based (polyurethane) adhesive [0017].
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francklow in view of Siu and optionally Liang, as applied to claim 1 above, even further in view of Paulino (U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0031191 A1) (hereinafter “Paulino”) OR Aubee et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2009/0029182 A1) (hereinafter “Aubee”) OR Clare (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0224952 A1) (hereinafter “Clare 2019”).
In the event that a second HDPE layer does not teach at least 20 wt% of a second ethylene-based polymer having a density of 0.958 g/cm3 or greater:
Paulino teaches an oriented polyethylene heat seal film, wherein the oriented polyethylene layer is also preferably a blend of two or more high density polyolefin resins, wherein either one or the other would inherently be greater than about 50 wt%, each comprising a density of 0.958 or 0.96 g/cc to achieve a balance of processability and film properties [0018-0019].
OR
Aubee teaches a multilayer barrier film, wherein HDPE films preferably comprise at least two different HDPEs having a density of at least 0.95 g/cc, preferably greater than 0.958 g/cc [0020] at a 30:70-70:30 weight ratio [0028-0030], wherein the blend of the two polymers allows for increased barrier properties, which allows less polar barrier polymers such as EVOH to be used or would increase overall barrier properties if the same amount were used [0006-0007, 0024, 0053].
OR
Clare teaches a recyclable polyethylene packaging laminate comprising layers of HDPE to provide stiffness at a first surface, a sealable layer at a second surface, and having an EVOH barrier layer disposed therein flanked by tie layers [0140-0143], wherein the HDPE is preferably a blend of HDPE resins comprising 10 to 30 wt% of a first HDPE A having a density of 0.95 to 0.97 g/cc, with an exemplary embodiment comprising a density of 0.963 g/cc, and a second HDPE B having a density of 0.95 to 0.97 g/cc, with exemplary embodiments ranging from 0.958-0.962 g/cc [0111-0132], wherein the blend of polyethylene homopolymers having different melt indices/molecular weight distributions provides enhanced barrier properties [0118, 0132] with further improvements being made with an EVOH barrier as required [0139].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide at least 20 wt% of a second ethylene-based polymer having a density within or near the claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to achieve a balance of processability and film properties [Paulino; 0018-0019] OR increase barrier properties in combination with or in replacement of polar polymers such as EVOH [Aubee; 0006-0007, 0024, 0053] OR to provide improved/optimized barrier performance [Clare; 0118, 0132, 0139].
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francklow in view of Siu and optionally Liang, as applied to claim 1 above, even further in view of Yamada et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0347148 A1) (hereinafter “Yamada”) and Wang et al. (WO 2020/190507 A1) (hereinafter “Wang”).
Regarding claim 7, the oriented polyethylene film is not taught to also comprise a barrier layer.
Yamada teaches a highly recyclable [0005, 0012] polyethylene-based laminated packaging material comprising a multilayer heat-sealable laminate comprising a gas barrier resin layer (All Figs. [11]) comprising preferably EVOH [0083-0085], an adhesive (tie) resin layer, preferably polyolefin or modified polyolefin [0097], and a heat seal layer (All Figs. [13]) comprising a polyethylene (co/ter)polymer [0098] and further adhesively laminated to a substrate (All Figs. [17]) to form the packaging laminate (All Figs. [16]), wherein the substrate is a uniaxially (machine direction) or biaxially stretched and comprising the same polyolefin as the heat seal layer, and preferably comprises at least one high-density polyethylene (known, inherent range 0.93-0.97 g/cc), and optionally a medium density polyethylene (0.926-0.94 g/cc) at a weight ratio of the HDPE of about 10% to about 50 wt% [0127-0155], wherein the substrate can be a laminated substrate (All Figs. [20]) also comprising a gas barrier resin (All Figs. [22]) [0312-0314] comprising EVOH [0360-0364], wherein the packaging film can comprise the heat-sealable laminate comprising the gas barrier resin and the laminated substrate comprising the gas barrier resin [0401-0402, 0436-0438], which can be included between any two layers in the packaging laminate [0122, 0442]. Yamada also teaches the laminated packaging material further comprises an intermediate layer also comprising polyethylene, similar to or the same as the substrate can be formed between the substrate and heat-sealable laminate, which may include the gas barrier resin thereon with a second adhesive layer disposed therebetween [0121, 0302-0303, 0408-0411, 0418-0422, 0426-0429, 0436-0438].
AND
Wang teaches a polyethylene-based packaging laminate [0011-0013] that barrier layers, such as EVOH [0096], can be layered/duplicated and laminated before or after stretching, wherein two barrier layers provide enhanced barrier properties [0095, 0108].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide the polyethylene film with a barrier layer as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide any polyethylene film-element in a packaging laminate with a barrier layer [Yamada] to enhance barrier properties [Wang, 0108].
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francklow in view of Siu and optionally Liang, as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Clare et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0398544 A1) (hereinafter “Clare 2020”) AND/OR Zheng et al. (WO 2018/063578 A1) (hereinafter “Zheng”).
Regarding claim 11, Francklow teaches the tie layer preferably comprises ethylene-(meth)acrylic acid grafted/modified polymer [0025], but does not teach an anhydride-modified linear low density polyethylene and a high/medium/low/linear low density polyethylene.
Clare 2020 teaches recyclable polyethylene packaging laminates [0001, 0030], wherein a first surface layer is a high density polyethylene and a second surface layer is a linear low density polyethylene-based sealing layer, wherein a barrier layer is disposed therein [claims 1-2, 7-8, 13-14], wherein the EVOH is bonded with tie layers comprising a blend of 80 wt% polyethylene, which comprises a linear low density polymer, and 20 wt% of a tie resin comprising maleic anhydride modified polyolefin [0124-0126], which ensures good adhesion of the ethylene vinyl alcohol with the polyethylene layers [0126].
AND/OR
Zheng teaches a tie layer B for bonding a barrier layer C such as ethylene vinyl alcohol to a polyethylene layer A, wherein the tie layer comprises 1 to 99 wt%, such as 80 to 95 wt%, of a first composition comprising an ethylene-based polymer, such as an ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer/copolymer (pg. 6), and 1-99 wt%, such as 5 to 20 wt%, of a maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene, such that it results in improved dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide the tie layer as comprising an anhydride-modified linear low-density polyethylene and a claimed polyethylene. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to ensure good adhesion of the ethylene vinyl alcohol with the polyethylene layers [Clare 2020; 0126] AND/OR to improve dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (Zheng; pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18), optionally further motivating the use of the tie-layer blend of Clare 2020.
Claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, & 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiefurii et al. (JP 04-212839 A) (hereinafter “Jiefurii”), as evidenced by Luo et al. (Preparation and properties of..Surlyn-ZN2+) and Dow (SurlynTM 1702 – Product Data Sheet) (hereinafter “Dow 2”), in view of Itaba et al. (U.S. Patent No. 5,006,378) (hereinafter “Itaba”) and/or Yamada et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0347148 A1) (hereinafter “Yamada”), and optionally further in view of Garavilla (Ionomer, acid copolymer, and metallocene polyethylene resins…) (hereinafter “Garavilla”) and wherein claim 18 is further in view of Clare (U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0398544 A1) (hereinafter “Clare”).
Regarding claims 1-2, 8-10, 12, and 17, Jiefurii teaches a film for food packaging, specifically meats and cheese [0002, 0009, 0027, 0046, 0053], in high-speed vertical forming filling sealing (VFFS) and horizontal folding filling sealing (HFFS) operations wherein a low coefficient of friction (less than about 0.3), broad seal window, low seal initiation temperature are desirable and high tack strength and high cold seal strength of at least approximately 10 lbf/in (about 44 N/25 mm) are preferable [0002-0008, 0011, 0028, 0032], wherein the structure of the laminate comprises a multilayer film comprising a sealant layer (Fig. 2 [20]), preferably VLDPE having a density of 0.88 to 0.0915 g/cc or ionomer comprising a copolymer of ethylene and (meth)acrylic acid neutralized with a metal salt, but may including other polyolefins and ethylene-α-olefins [0039, 0044], a barrier layer (Fig. 2 [16]) comprising ethylene vinyl alcohol [0036, 0038, 0042] flanked by polyamide layers (Fig. 2 [14]) an chemically modified polyolefin intermediate adhesion (tie) layers therebetween (Fig. 2 [12/18]), such as an anhydride modified polyethylene homo- or co-polymer [0045], and an outer layer of packaging material can be nylon among other choices including high-density polyethylene [0035, 0041, and when conventionally adhesively laminated (Fig. 2 [32]) to an outermost support layer (Fig. 2 [30]), is preferably linear low-density polyethylene [0051, 0066], wherein at least one example (#4) comprises the layer structure LLDPE (35µm)/tie(5µm)/polyamide(7.5µm)/EVOH(10µm)/polyamide(7.5µm)/tie(5µm)/I1, wherein I1 consists of an ionomer, Surlyn 1702, and 5000 ppm (0.5 wt%) antiblock masterbatch agent [0059], such that the ionomer sealant comprises 30% of the thickness of the film and the barrier layer comprises 10% of the thickness of the film, wherein Luo evidences that Surlyn 1702 comprises a comonomer content of about 20 wt% (ethylene content of about 80 wt%) and a melt flow rate of 14 g/10 min [pg. 2080, 2.1 Material preparation] and Dow 2 evidences that Surlyn 1702 has a melting point of 93 °C.
However, further regarding claims 1 and 17 and regarding claims 3-5, the only support layers explicitly taught are (oriented) polyester or polypropylene [0035, 0052, 0066-0068]], which may be printed [0052].
Itaba teaches a packaging film for foods, comprising a surface/outermost support film, a saponified EVA barrier layer (EVOH), and a sealant layer, wherein the outermost support film comprises biaxially oriented (machine and width-wise, wherein orientation may favor a direction) high-density (greater than 0.935 g/cc) polyethylene (HDPE), wherein oriented HDPE is improved over the prior art biaxially oriented polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (polyester), and oriented polyamide/nylon, wherein an oriented polyethylene more easily seals to itself and also provides the required flexocracking resistance strength and dimensional stability, moisture-proofness, clarity (low haze), and resistance to pinholes unavailable in the conventional prior art materials (col. 5, lines 1-25).
AND/OR
Yamada teaches a polyethylene-based heat seal laminate comprising an EVOH gas barrier layer and adhesive resin (tie) layers [0083-0085, 0093], which can also be included in the substrate [0360-0363] adhesively laminated to an outer packaging laminate comprising a uniaxially or biaxially oriented polyolefin substrate, being the same polyolefin as the seal layer, wherein by both using polyethylene recyclability is improved [0055, 0114, 0127-0128, 0132], wherein the seal layer should have a thickness of 5 to 100 µm, preferably 10 to 50 µm [0103], and greater in thickness than the gas barrier layer and the adhesive resin layer(s) each having a thickness of preferably 0.5-10 µm, more preferably 1-7 µm [0082, 0091-0092] and preferably 0.5-10 µm, more preferably 1-5 µm [0095-0096], both of which improve recyclability, wherein the substrate preferably comprises at least a high-density polyethylene (second ethylene-based polymer) (>0.945 g/cc) and a medium-density polyethylene (0.925-0.945 g/cc) having a thickness ratio of preferably 1/10 to 1/1 (10-50 vol%), more preferably 1/5 to 1/2 (20-33 vol%) [0317, 0322-0323], which improves both stretching properties and strength and heat-resistance of the outermost surface layer [0319-0320].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to replace polyester/PET, polypropylene, and polyamide/nylon as the outermost substrate layer with an oriented polyethylene layer having a density within the claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to replace the (oriented) polyester, polypropylene, and nylon due to oriented polyethylene more easily sealing to itself and also providing the required flexocracking resistance strength and dimensional stability, moisture-proofness, clarity (low haze), and resistance to pinholes [Itaba] AND/OR providing increased recyclability in combination with improved stretching properties along with required/desired strength and heat-resistance [Yamada].
Even further regarding claims 1 and 17, although the prior art does not disclose any of the claimed properties, the claimed properties are deemed to be inherent to the structure in the prior art since Jiefurii/Itaba and/or Yamada teach an invention with a substantially similar structure and chemical composition as the claimed invention. Products of identical structure and composition cannot have mutually exclusive properties. The burden is on the Applicants to prove otherwise.
Alternatively, Garavilla teaches an assessment of the sealant performance of metallocene polyethylene resins, ionomers, and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, wherein the chosen sodium (Na+) and zinc (Zn+) ionomers comprise melt indices of 1.3 and 1.5, melting points of 95 °C and 94 °C, and comonomer content of 10 wt% and 12 wt% (ethylene content of 90 wt% and 88 wt%), respectively [pg. 192; Table 1], wherein while metallocene polyethylene already offer improvements over traditional linear low-density polyethylene and very low density polyethylene due to their increased uniformity [pg. 195] and while seal strengths are fairly similar across a similar range [pgs. 197-199], the ionomers as set forth are greatly improved in the area of hot tack range/window over all of the other candidates, which allows for higher packaging line speeds and reduced seal failures [pgs. 200-202], wherein the hot tack values at 110 °C are well-within the claimed ranges, being at about 3.5-4.25 N/15 mm (5.8-7.1 N/25 mm) [Figs. 17-18], closer to about 5.5 N/15 mm (9.2 N/25 mm) with sealing windows extending from between 75 and 80 °C to about 140 °C for a sealing window greater than claimed range and having a seal strength well above 5 N by 97 °C.
It would have been obvious to and motivated for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to look to the art for other workable ionomer sealants usable for the same purpose and incorporating them and whichever characteristics they might possess, wherein one of ordinary skill would have been motivated to experiment with ionomers having lower seal initiation temperatures and/or melting points.
Regarding claim 7, the support may additionally have a barrier layer thereon, and while an alternative barrier material to EVOH is taught, vinylidene chloride [0036, 0052], it would have been obvious, especially in view of Yamada, to provide the barrier as an EVOH layer.
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Yamada further teaches the substrate preferability comprises an outermost layer of high-density polyethylene and a medium-density polyethylene layer, which provides improved stretching properties along with required/desired strength and heat-resistance as recited above. A lower layer of low-density polyethylene may be further added below the medium-density polyethylene layer which can further improve stretching property, prevent curling, and improved processability [0329-0336].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a low-density polyethylene as the layer that would be in contact with the adhesive layer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to further improve stretching property, prevent curling, and improved processability [Yamada].
Further regarding claim 12, while the conventional laminating adhesive is not explicitly stated to be solvent-based, solvent-free, or water-based, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to look to the art to use any one of the known claimed choices.
Furthermore, Itaba teaches that adhesives can be wet of an EVA emulsion or acrylic type (water-based), a dry lamination using adhesive of urethane type (col. 8, lines 30-33) and/or Yamada teaches an adhesive layer as being a one-part, two-part, or non-curing adhesive type, which can further be solvent-free or solvent-based, with the former being environmentally preferred [0186-0188].
Regarding claim 18, Yamada teaches that components for the substrate and sealant should be of the same type of polyolefin and to decrease barrier layer and tie layer thickness. However, Jiefurii/Itaba and/or Yamada does not teach the laminate as comprising at least 95 wt% polyethylene.
Clare teaches recyclable polyethylene films comprising a plurality of layers including a polyethylene sealant layer, wherein polyethylene replaces the usage of polyester and polyamide due to difficulties in recycling [0002, 0006, 0134], wherein a known “all PE” multilayer film comprises at least one high density PE layer and a sealant layer made from a single site (metallocene) catalyst [00008] such that the film has a low seal initiation temperature and ability to form seals through contamination and prevention of pinhole leaks [0004], wherein a recyclable polyethylene film comprises at least 90 wt%, especially at least 95 wt% ethylene polymer/polyethylene based on the total weight of the laminate [0030], wherein ethylene polymer/polyethylene comprises all densities of polyethylene (HDPE, MDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, VLDPE, ULDPE, plastomer, and elastomers) and copolymers thereof such as ethylene vinyl acetate, ethylene acrylic acid copolymers metal salts thereof (ionomers) [0040], wherein tie resins and barrier resins, such as ethylene vinyl alcohol, are included in as little amount as possible such as not greater than 5 wt% [0046] and a tie layer comprise a blend of polyethylene and 20 wt% a tie resin comprising maleic anhydride modified polyethylene [0125].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to minimize the presence of the barrier and tie layers with respect to sealant layer and other polyethylene layers of the multilayer film and to entirely remove/replace non-polyethylene polymers, such as polyamide and polyester, and optimized the remaining layers such that the sealant layer was thicker than the barrier and tie layers. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to (further) enhance the recyclability of the polyethylene-base film by substantially eliminating and/or replacing all unnecessary non-polyethylene polymers [Clare].
Claims 1-10, 12, 16, & 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiefurii et al. (JP 04-212839 A) (hereinafter “Jiefurii”) in view of in view of Itaba et al. (U.S. Patent No. 5,006,378) (hereinafter “Itaba”) and/or Yamada et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0347148 A1) (hereinafter “Yamada”), and further in view of Mitani et al. (JP 2008-100391 A) (hereinafter “Mitani”) and optionally Liang et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0207997 A1) (hereinafter “Liang”).
Regarding claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, and 19-22, Jiefurii teaches a film for food packaging, specifically meats and cheese [0002, 0009, 0027, 0046, 0053], in high-speed vertical forming filling sealing (VFFS) and horizontal folding filling sealing (HFFS) operations wherein a low coefficient of friction (less than about 0.3), broad seal window, low seal initiation temperature are desirable and high tack strength and high cold seal strength of at least approximately 10 lbf/in (about 44 N/25 mm) are preferable [0002-0008, 0011, 0028, 0032], wherein the structure of the laminate comprises a multilayer film comprising a sealant layer (Fig. 2 [20]), preferably VLDPE having a density of 0.88 to 0.0915 g/cc or ionomer comprising a copolymer of ethylene and (meth)acrylic acid neutralized with a metal salt, but may including other polyolefins and ethylene-α-olefins [0039, 0044], a barrier layer (Fig. 2 [16]) comprising ethylene vinyl alcohol [0036, 0038, 0042] flanked by polyamide layers (Fig. 2 [14]) an chemically modified polyolefin intermediate adhesion (tie) layers therebetween (Fig. 2 [12/18]), such as an anhydride modified polyethylene homo- or co-polymer [0045], and an outer layer of packaging material can be nylon among other choices including high-density polyethylene [0035, 0041, and when conventionally adhesively laminated (Fig. 2 [32]) to an outermost support layer (Fig. 2 [30]), is preferably linear low-density polyethylene [0051, 0066], wherein at least a few example (#s ) comprises the layer structure LLDPE/tie/polyamide/EVOH/polyamide/tie/VLDPE1, wherein VLDPE1 consists of ATTANE 4004, and a small percentage (3-4 wt%) of antiblock masterbatch agent [0044, 0062-0063], the thicknesses of the layers being such that the VLDPE sealant comprises 25-30% of the thickness of the film and the barrier layer comprises 10% of the thickness of the film.
However, further regarding claims 1 and 19 and regarding claims 3-5, the only support layers explicitly taught are (oriented) polyester or polypropylene [0035, 0052, 0066-0068]], which may be printed [0052] and the only ethylene elastomer/plastomer (VLDPE) does not have a melting temperature below 100 °C.
Itaba teaches a packaging film for foods, comprising a surface/outermost support film, a saponified EVA barrier layer (EVOH), and a sealant layer, wherein the outermost support film comprises biaxially oriented (machine and width-wise, wherein orientation may favor a direction) high-density (greater than 0.935 g/cc) polyethylene (HDPE), wherein oriented HDPE is improved over the prior art biaxially oriented polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (polyester), and oriented polyamide/nylon, wherein an oriented polyethylene more easily seals to itself and also provides the required flexocracking resistance strength and dimensional stability, moisture-proofness, clarity (low haze), and resistance to pinholes unavailable in the conventional prior art materials (col. 5, lines 1-25).
AND/OR
Yamada teaches a polyethylene-based heat seal laminate comprising an EVOH gas barrier layer and adhesive resin (tie) layers [0083-0085, 0093], which can also be included in the substrate [0360-0363] adhesively laminated to an outer packaging laminate comprising a uniaxially or biaxially oriented polyolefin substrate, being the same polyolefin as the seal layer, wherein by both using polyethylene recyclability is improved [0055, 0114, 0127-0128, 0132], wherein the seal layer should have a thickness of 5 to 100 µm, preferably 10 to 50 µm [0103], and greater in thickness than the gas barrier layer and the adhesive resin layer(s) each having a thickness of preferably 0.5-10 µm, more preferably 1-7 µm [0082, 0091-0092] and preferably 0.5-10 µm, more preferably 1-5 µm [0095-0096], both of which improve recyclability, wherein the substrate preferably comprises at least a high-density polyethylene (second ethylene-based polymer) (>0.945 g/cc) and a medium-density polyethylene (0.925-0.945 g/cc) having a thickness ratio of preferably 1/10 to 1/1 (10-50 vol%), more preferably 1/5 to 1/2 (20-33 vol%) [0317, 0322-0323], which improves both stretching properties and strength and heat-resistance of the outermost surface layer [0319-0320].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to replace polyester/PET, polypropylene, and polyamide/nylon as the outermost substrate layer with an oriented polyethylene layer having a density within the claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to replace the (oriented) polyester, polypropylene, and nylon due to oriented polyethylene more easily sealing to itself and also providing the required flexocracking resistance strength and dimensional stability, moisture-proofness, clarity (low haze), and resistance to pinholes [Itaba] AND/OR providing increased recyclability in combination with improved stretching properties along with required/desired strength and heat-resistance [Yamada].
Mitani teaches a food packaging film suitable for block/solid and/or melted cheese and/or meats [0002-0008, 0037], comprising an EVOH barrier layer and tie layers with and at least one seal layer, wherein the seal layer consisting of 40 to 95 wt% of metallocene linear low density polyethylene having a melting temperature of 60 °C or higher and less than 90 °C, most preferably 60 °C to 70 °C such that sealing/fusing happens at temperatures between 70 °C and 90 °C [0022, 0024-0025] providing by a density of 0.805 or more and less than 0.905 g/cc, preferably 0.805 to 0.88 g/cc [0026], and a melt flow rate of 0.5 to 15 g/10 min, preferably 0.8 to 5.0 g/10 min [0027], wherein adding antiblocking agents and lubricants (slip agents) allows the film productivity to increase while keeping melting point within the above range [0032-0033], wherein the heat of the food or a very low temperature sealing operation can form the seals [0037] having a strength of at least 3 N/15mm (5 N/25 mm) [0049].
Liang teaches when an outer layer of high density polyethylene an upper limit of seal temperature is about 270 °F (132 °C), as opposed to polyester when an upper limit is 420 °F and that a difference (minimum window) from a seal initiation temperature to the upper limit of the seal temperature for the outer layer must at least 50 °F (28 °C difference), preferably 75 °F (36.5 °C difference), and even preferably 100 °F (55 °C difference), wherein the seal initiation temperature must be lower than 104 °C, preferably lower than about 90.5 °C, and even preferably lower than about 76.7 °C, which would likely have been provided by the low seal initiation of Mitani.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a melting temperature, density, melt flow index as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide a sealant that allows for packaging molten cheese [Mitani] and providing a low seal initiation temperature for a broad sealing window [Liang].
Regarding claim 7, the support may additionally have a barrier layer thereon, and while an alternative barrier material to EVOH is taught, vinylidene chloride [0036, 0052], it would have been obvious, especially in view of Yamada, to provide the barrier as an EVOH layer.
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Yamada further teaches the substrate preferability comprises an outermost layer of high-density polyethylene and a medium-density polyethylene layer, which provides improved stretching properties along with required/desired strength and heat-resistance as recited above. A lower layer of low-density polyethylene may be further added below the medium-density polyethylene layer which can further improve stretching property, prevent curling, and improved processability [0329-0336].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a low-density polyethylene as the layer that would be in contact with the adhesive layer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to further improve stretching property, prevent curling, and improved processability [Yamada].
Further regarding claim 12, while the conventional laminating adhesive is not explicitly stated to be solvent-based, solvent-free, or water-based, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to look to the art to use any one of the known claimed choices.
Furthermore, Itaba teaches that adhesives can be wet of an EVA emulsion or acrylic type (water-based), a dry lamination using adhesive of urethane type (col. 8, lines 30-33) and/or Yamada teaches an adhesive layer as being a one-part, two-part, or non-curing adhesive type, which can further be solvent-free or solvent-based, with the former being environmentally preferred [0186-0188].
Claims 1-10, 12, 16, & 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiefurii et al. (JP 04-212839 A) (hereinafter “Jiefurii”) in view of in view of Itaba et al. (U.S. Patent No. 5,006,378) (hereinafter “Itaba”) and/or Yamada et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0347148 A1) (hereinafter “Yamada”) AND Van der Sanden et al. (A New Family of Linear Ethylene Polymers with Enhanced Sealing Performance…) (hereinafter “Van der Sanden 1”), as evidenced by or also in view of Van der Sanden et al. (A New Family of Linear Ethylene Polymers provides Enhanced Sealing Performance) (hereinafter “Van der Sanden 2”), and Su et al. (WO 2018/223358 A1) (hereinafter “Su”).
Regarding claims 1-6, 8-10, 12, and 19-22, Jiefurii teaches a film for food packaging, specifically meats and cheese [0002, 0009, 0027, 0046, 0053], in high-speed vertical forming filling sealing (VFFS) and horizontal folding filling sealing (HFFS) operations wherein a low coefficient of friction (less than about 0.3), broad seal window, low seal initiation temperature are desirable and high tack strength and high cold seal strength of at least approximately 10 lbf/in (about 44 N/25 mm) are preferable [0002-0008, 0011, 0028, 0032], wherein the structure of the laminate comprises a multilayer film comprising a sealant layer (Fig. 2 [20]), preferably VLDPE having a density of 0.88 to 0.0915 g/cc or ionomer comprising a copolymer of ethylene and (meth)acrylic acid neutralized with a metal salt, but may including other polyolefins and ethylene-α-olefins [0039, 0044], a barrier layer (Fig. 2 [16]) comprising ethylene vinyl alcohol [0036, 0038, 0042] flanked by polyamide layers (Fig. 2 [14]) an chemically modified polyolefin intermediate adhesion (tie) layers therebetween (Fig. 2 [12/18]), such as an anhydride modified polyethylene homo- or co-polymer [0045], and an outer layer of packaging material can be nylon among other choices including high-density polyethylene [0035, 0041, and when conventionally adhesively laminated (Fig. 2 [32]) to an outermost support layer (Fig. 2 [30]), is preferably linear low-density polyethylene [0051, 0066], wherein at least a few example (#s ) comprises the layer structure LLDPE/tie/polyamide/EVOH/polyamide/tie/VLDPE1, wherein VLDPE1 consists of ATTANE 4004, and a small percentage (3-4 wt%) of antiblock masterbatch agent [0044, 0062-0063], the thicknesses of the layers being such that the VLDPE sealant comprises 25-30% of the thickness of the film and the barrier layer comprises 10% of the thickness of the film.
However, further regarding claims 1 and 19 and regarding claims 3-5, the only support layers explicitly taught are (oriented) polyester or polypropylene [0035, 0052, 0066-0068]], which may be printed [0052] and the only ethylene elastomer/plastomer (VLDPE) does not have a melting temperature below 100 °C.
Itaba teaches a packaging film for foods, comprising a surface/outermost support film, a saponified EVA barrier layer (EVOH), and a sealant layer, wherein the outermost support film comprises biaxially oriented (machine and width-wise, wherein orientation may favor a direction) high-density (greater than 0.935 g/cc) polyethylene (HDPE), wherein oriented HDPE is improved over the prior art biaxially oriented polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (polyester), and oriented polyamide/nylon, wherein an oriented polyethylene more easily seals to itself and also provides the required flexocracking resistance strength and dimensional stability, moisture-proofness, clarity (low haze), and resistance to pinholes unavailable in the conventional prior art materials (col. 5, lines 1-25).
AND/OR
Yamada teaches a polyethylene-based heat seal laminate comprising an EVOH gas barrier layer and adhesive resin (tie) layers [0083-0085, 0093], which can also be included in the substrate [0360-0363] adhesively laminated to an outer packaging laminate comprising a uniaxially or biaxially oriented polyolefin substrate, being the same polyolefin as the seal layer, wherein by both using polyethylene recyclability is improved [0055, 0114, 0127-0128, 0132], wherein the seal layer should have a thickness of 5 to 100 µm, preferably 10 to 50 µm [0103], and greater in thickness than the gas barrier layer and the adhesive resin layer(s) each having a thickness of preferably 0.5-10 µm, more preferably 1-7 µm [0082, 0091-0092] and preferably 0.5-10 µm, more preferably 1-5 µm [0095-0096], both of which improve recyclability, wherein the substrate preferably comprises at least a high-density polyethylene (second ethylene-based polymer) (>0.945 g/cc) and a medium-density polyethylene (0.925-0.945 g/cc) having a thickness ratio of preferably 1/10 to 1/1 (10-50 vol%), more preferably 1/5 to 1/2 (20-33 vol%) [0317, 0322-0323], which improves both stretching properties and strength and heat-resistance of the outermost surface layer [0319-0320].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to replace polyester/PET, polypropylene, and polyamide/nylon as the outermost substrate layer with an oriented polyethylene layer having a density within the claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to replace the (oriented) polyester, polypropylene, and nylon due to oriented polyethylene more easily sealing to itself and also providing the required flexocracking resistance strength and dimensional stability, moisture-proofness, clarity (low haze), and resistance to pinholes [Itaba] AND/OR providing increased recyclability in combination with improved stretching properties along with required/desired strength and heat-resistance [Yamada].
Van der Sanden 1 teaches a new family of single site (metallocene) catalyzed linear ethylene elastomer/plastomer polymers beneficial for food packaging comprising a similar layer structure to that of Jiefurii with vertical form, fill, and seal (VFFS) packaging operations improved over LLDPE, VLDPE (as evidenced/taught by Van der Sanden 2, [0101]), EVA, and Zn ionomers, comprising polymer #1 and polymer #2 of Van der Sanden 2 and polymer #3 having a seal strength greater than 10 N/15 mm (25 N/25 mm) and a broad sealing window of about 90 °C to 150-160 °C (window of 60-70 °C) equal to that of ionomer and hot tack values similar thereto, wherein the melting point of the ethylene elastomer/plastomer is substantially correlated to the density (and comonomer content) such that at a density of 0.88 g/cc the melting point is about 70 °C and a density of 0.93 g/cc is equivalent to a melting point of about 120 °C, wherein as applied to polymer 3 having a seal initiation temperature of at 5 N of about 90 °C, a seal window of 50 °C, and a max seal strength at 120 °C of about 36 N/15 mm (60 N/25 mm) having low extractables and improved haze in comparison to SN catalysts, wherein Van der Sanden 2 evidences/teaches that the low extractables reduce blocking and improve coefficient of friction which lower slip and antiblock requirements [pg. 102], wherein Su teaches an ethylene-based alpha-olefin heat seal outer layer, wherein to achieve low slip on a packaging layer slip agents are typically/conventionally added to the ethylene-based alpha-olefin outer layer, wherein an improvement comprises a combination fatty acid non-migratory slip agent [0002-0003] at a combined weight of about 0.01 to 5.0 wt% [0075] and an antiblock agent that minimizes or prevents blocking in an amount from about 0 to 2.0 wt% [0072].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a polyethylene elastomer/plastomer having a melting temperature, density, melt flow index as claimed with desired slip/antiblock additives being within the claimed range. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide a lower seal initiation temperature/melting point and a wide seal window as desired by Jiefurii, improved over Zn ionomer and VLDPE, in order to provide improvements on already desired qualities while also improving on extractables and haze [Van der Sanden 1/2] and to maintain desirable and conventional low coefficient of friction during variable processing conditions such as elevated temperature and/or pressure [Su].
Regarding claim 7, the support may additionally have a barrier layer thereon, and while an alternative barrier material to EVOH is taught, vinylidene chloride [0036, 0052], it would have been obvious, especially in view of Yamada, to provide the barrier as an EVOH layer.
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Yamada further teaches the substrate preferability comprises an outermost layer of high-density polyethylene and a medium-density polyethylene layer, which provides improved stretching properties along with required/desired strength and heat-resistance as recited above. A lower layer of low-density polyethylene may be further added below the medium-density polyethylene layer which can further improve stretching property, prevent curling, and improved processability [0329-0336].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide a low-density polyethylene as the layer that would be in contact with the adhesive layer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to further improve stretching property, prevent curling, and improved processability [Yamada].
Further regarding claim 12, while the conventional laminating adhesive is not explicitly stated to be solvent-based, solvent-free, or water-based, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to look to the art to use any one of the known claimed choices.
Furthermore, Itaba teaches that adhesives can be wet of an EVA emulsion or acrylic type (water-based), a dry lamination using adhesive of urethane type (col. 8, lines 30-33) and/or Yamada teaches an adhesive layer as being a one-part, two-part, or non-curing adhesive type, which can further be solvent-free or solvent-based, with the former being environmentally preferred [0186-0188].
Claim 11 is are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiefurii in view of Itaba and/or Yamada OR Jiefurii in view of Mitani OR Jiefurii in view of Van der Sanden 1(/2) and Su, as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Zheng et al. (WO 2018/063578 A1) (hereinafter “Zheng”).
Regarding claim 11, while maleic anhydride is suggested, a specific tie layer composition or thickness is not taught.
Zheng teaches a tie layer B for bonding a barrier layer C such as ethylene vinyl alcohol to a polyethylene layer A, wherein the tie layer comprises 1 to 99 wt%, such as 80 to 95 wt%, of a first composition comprising an ethylene-based polymer, such as an ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer/copolymer (pg. 6), and 1-99 wt%, such as 5 to 20 wt%, of a maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene, such that it results in improved dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18), wherein the EVOH is 0.2 or 0.4 mil of a 4 mil film giving a calculated thickness percentage of 5% or 10% (Example 7, pgs. 46-47).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to provide the tie layer as comprising an anhydride-modified linear low-density polyethylene and a claimed polyethylene with the barrier layer having a thickness percentage in relation to the overall film as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve dart impact values and normalized puncture strength beneficial for packages (Zheng; pg. 1, lines 10-17 & pg. 4, lines 1-18).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Rohse et al. (Sealing Through Contamination) teach sealing layers for food packaging consisting of metallocene plastomers as improved over VLDPE, LDPE, ionomers, and EVA, wherein at least one of the polyethylene plastomer resins (Exact 0201) used comprises antiblock (3000 ppm/0.3 wt%) and slip additives (1200 ppm/0.12 wt%), a density of 0.902, Tm=96 °C, and melt flow index of 1.1 g/10 min.
Halley (A New High-Performance mVLDPE) teaches a new metallocene VLDPE for sealing improved over conventional VLDPE.
Halle (Plastomer-mVLDPE Blends for High Performance Heat Sealing Applications) teaches blends of mVLDPE and polyethylene plastomers for sealing, wherein the blend improves on the shortcomings of both.
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/JEFFREY A VONCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781 August 12th, 2026
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