DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on July 9, 2026 has been entered.
Claim 1 has been amended. Claims 1-11 are currently pending and under examination.
The texts of those sections of Title 35 U.S. Code are not included in this section and can be found in a prior Office action.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2012-229580 in view of WO 97/20008 and JP 073222. For convenience, the machine translation of JP ‘580 will be cited below.
JP ‘580 teaches a waterproof structure for building substrate comprising a surface treatment layer 30, waterproof film layer 10, where the top layer of the waterproof film layer is embossed, a water-absorbing swelling layer 20, which comprises 5-50 phr water-absorbing particles 24 and an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive 22, and a further adhesive layer 26 to increase adhesive strength to the building substrate. JP ‘580 teaches that, for example, when a nail is driven into the building material, the water absorbing particles will absorb the water transmitted along the outer peripheral of the nail and expand to fill the space between the inner peripheral surface of the nail hold and the outer peripheral surface of the nail.
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JP ‘580 does not teach or suggest the makeup of the adhesive layer 26.
JP ‘580 teaches that the structure is applied to plywood, which is inherently an uneven substrate.
WO ‘008 teaches that conventional adhesive sheets do not have sufficient adhesion force on a substrate having a rough surface with a relatively large degree of unevenness, teaching that over time, the adhesive sheet tends to peel off from the substrate as time passes. WO ‘008 teaches that by adding polyacrylic elastic microspheres, having a particle size of up to 300 micron to the adhesive sheet, passageways are formed by the substrate surface and the adhesive layer which communicate with the atmosphere allowing water vapor to escape and prevent blistering of the adhesive layer. WO ‘008 teaches that the adhesive can be a pressure sensitive adhesive and meets applicants’ tacky adhesive. WO ‘008 exemplifies drying the adhesive layers after formation by way of heat.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was filed to have added elastic microspheres to the adhesive layer 26 of JP ‘580, as JP ‘580 teaches applying the adhesive to an inherently uneven surface, where WO ‘008 teaches that the microspheres can improve the adhesion of the adhesive with the substrate over time by allowing water vapors to escape through passageways created by the microspheres.
JP ‘580 does not teach the adhesive layer as comprising a crosslinking agent, as claimed; however, WO ‘008 mentions JP ‘222, who teaches that a crosslinking agent can be present in a pressure sensitive adhesive to increase the cohesive strength.
The particle size of the microspheres and the amount of the water absorbing resin taught by WO ‘008 and JP ‘580, respectfully, overlap with the claimed ranges, and it has been held that overlapping ranges are sufficient to establish prima facie obviousness. See MPEP 2144.05.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have selected from the overlapping portion of the range taught by the reference because overlapping ranges have been held to establish prima facie obviousness.
JP ‘580 in view of WO ‘008 and JP ’222 is prima facie obvious over instant claims 1-8 and 10.
Claim 9 is a future intended use claim, and if the product is suitable for outdoors, one of ordinary skill in the art would expect the adhesive to be suitable for use in an indoor wet area, as claimed.
As to claim 11, plywood is a hydrophilic member.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIEANN R JOHNSTON whose telephone number is (571)270-7344. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST.
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/Brieann R Johnston/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
