DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the Response, filed 9/19/2025, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-17 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground 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 1-5 and 7-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Veregin (US Patent 11,092,906) in view of Shirai (US Patent 6,864,030).
Veregin teaches an emulsion aggregation toner (Col. 25 line 51-52) comprising at least one resin, an optional colorant, an optional wax, and a non-titanium dioxide positive charging metal oxide surface additive (Abstract). The non-titanium dioxide positive charging metal oxide surface additive may be a polymethylsiloxane treated aluminum oxide (Col. 24 line 60-64). The surface additive has a volume average primary particle size of 8 to 30 nm (Col. 23 line 13-15), and example alumina C805, present in exemplary toners 3-11, has a size of 13 nm (Tables 1, 3, and 5). The surface additive formulation further comprises a small size silica dioxide having a volume average primary particle diameter of 8 to 16 nm (Col. 21 line 52-54). Exemplary toners 3-11 are free of TiO2, titanium dioxide (Tables 1, 3, and 5).
The toner may comprise one or more polyester resins, or in other embodiments, may comprise a styrene or styrene acrylic resin (Col. 5 line 53-60). The toner comprises a first amorphous polyester, a second amorphous polyester different than the first, and a crystalline polyester (Col. 6 line 1-5). The toner comprises a core-shell configuration, wherein the core comprises at least one amorphous polyester and one crystalline polyester; and where the shell comprises at least one amorphous polyester (Col. 10 line 23-28). The colorant is selected from cyan, magenta, yellow, black, or a combination thereof (Col. 18 line 18-19).
The toner particles may be formulated into a developer composition (Col. 30 line 43-44), wherein the toner particles are mixed with a carrier (line 44-45).
Veregin teaches a total surface area coverage of all the surface additives of 100 to 140 percent (Col 25 line 31-35), but does not provide any benefits or drawbacks for the total surface coverage, or surface coverages of individual particles. Veregin is silent regarding the surface area coverage of the alumina of 40 to 100 percent of the toner particle surface area. Shirai teaches a toner with inorganic particles as external additives, wherein a coverage ratio of the inorganic particles on the surface of the toner is 130 to 300% (Abstract). The external additive may include alumina (Col. 5 line 50-51), and has an average particle size of preferably 8 to 50 nm (Col 5 line 66-67 to Col 6 line1-3). When the coverage of the inorganic particles is too low the storage property is lowered, and when the it is too high the fixing ability is lowered (Col 6 line 6-9). The toner may contain multiple inorganic fine particles, and the coverage is the sum of the coverages of all the respective particles (Col 6 line 22-31). In order for a total surface coverage between 130% and 300%, a person of ordinary skill in the art would increase the coverages of all of the inorganic particles, and a coverage of the alumina in the range of 40% to 100% would be easily achieved. 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 coverage of the alumina particles of Veregin with the large surface coverages of Shirai in order to prevent lowering of the storage property without hindering the fixing ability.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jenna Kuipers whose telephone number is (571)272-0161. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 - 5:30 PT.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Johnson can be reached at 571-272-1177. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/J.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 01/05/2026
Prosecution Insights