DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the Response, filed 7/8/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-3, 5-9, 14-21 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3, 5-9, 14-15, 19-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamada (US PGP 2017-0017175) in view of Sacripante (US PGP 2014-0143534) and further in view of Sakamoto (JP 2019-066575).
Yamada teaches a toner comprising a binder resin comprising a polyester resin A and a polyester resin B (Abstract). The polyester resin A includes a urethane bond or a urea bond ([0032]). The dicarboxylic acid component of the polyester resin A includes an aliphatic carboxylic acid having 4 to 12 carbon atoms, which includes sebacic acid ([0030-31]). Exemplary polyester resin A 20 includes sebacic acid as a monomer (Table 1-3). The polyester resin B is an amorphous polyester resin having a diol component which may include ethylene glycol and propylene glycol ([0041]). Exemplary polyester resins B 1-7 include propylene glycol and terephthalic acid as monomers (Tables 1-1 & 1-2). The toner further comprises a crystalline polyester resin ([0087]), a release agent ([0115]), a colorant ([0122]), and an external additive ([0129]). A developer may be formed using the toner ([0204]). Yamada teaches an image forming apparatus and image forming method according to claims 14 and 15 ([0217-277]), including a developer storage container ([0263]).
Yamada is silent regarding the toner containing recycled and biomass components. Sacripante teaches a sustainable toner comprising biodegradable and recycled materials (Abstract). The toner contains bio-based polyester reagents and recycled plastic PET in order to produce a toner that is more environmentally friendly ([0002-6]). The PET used in the toner is recycled by shredding it into flakes with an approximate size of 3mm by 3mm by 1mm ([0021] line 5-7). This produces a material for the binder resin containing recycled-resin-derived ethylene glycol and recycled-resin-derived terephthalic acid, as these are the monomers that comprise PET. The total sustainability content of the toner is preferably 90% or more ([0012] line 23-27), wherein the sustainability content refers to the sum of the bio-based and recycled materials ([0012] line 1-5). The toner may comprise from 25% to 90% of a bio-based material ([0019] line 6-8), giving it a biomass degree of at least 25%. The binder resin polymer, which comprises up to 95% of the toner, may contain from 5% to 70% PET ([0019] line 1-4). Based on these percentages, the content of the recycled resin may be greater than the content of the biomass derived resin. When the content of the bio-based material is at the lower end of the range, the content of the PET must be larger in order to maintain the preference for a high sustainability content. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the toner of Yamada to have included the recycled PET and bio-based components of Sacripante in order to make the toner more environmentally friendly.
Sacripante teaches that sebacic acid ([0035]) and terephthalic acid ([0029]) may be used as a bio-based reagent. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to replace the petroleum based the sebacic acid in polyester resin A and the terephthalic acid in polyester resin B of Yamada with the bio-based monomers in order to increase the sustainability of the toner.
Sacripante teaches in example 4, that the sustainable resin includes 1,2-propylene glycol as one of the monomers ([0143]), however, the origin of the compound is not specified. Sakamoto teaches a toner with a binder resin comprising a polyester resin ([0060]). The resin preferably includes a plant-derived 1,2-propanediol (propylene glycol) as an alcohol component in order to improve low-temperature fixability while ensuring sufficient environmental properties ([0067]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the polyester resin B of Yamada to have included propylene glycol that is plant-derived as taught by Sakamoto in order to improve the low-temperature fixability while maintaining the sustainability of the toner.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/J.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 09/30/2026
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