DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 10-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on November 20, 2025. Claims 1-9 are currently pending.
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 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takata (US 2021/0363026) in view of Hongtai et al (CN 101381529).
With regards to claims 1 and 4, Takata teaches a curable composition (abstract) that contains indium oxide particles (abstract) having a particle size of 10 to 30 nm (0080) (reading on a nanoparticle), a polyfunctional (meth)acrylate compound (0123 and 0127), and a dispersant (0141).
Takata does not teach the addition of cerium to the nanoparticle.
Hongtai teaches a composition containing nano-cerium-tin-oxide particles (page 1) wherein the amount of cerium is 1 g in a composition containing 140 g (page 3 example 1) and teaches the motivation for using a nanoparticle containing cerium to be because it is resistant to ultraviolet radiation. Hongtai and Takata are analogous in the art of compositions containing metal oxide nanoparticles. In light of the benefit above, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art prior to the effective filing date of the present invention to add the cerium nanoparticle of Hongtai to the nanoparticle of Takata, thereby obtaining the present invention.
With regards to claim 2, Takata teaches the indium oxide particle to be an indium tin oxide particle (abstract).
With regards to claim 3, Takata teaches the indium oxide particle to be an indium tin oxide particle (abstract).
With regards to claim 5, Takata teaches the amount of tin to be 7.6 mmol in a composition having 478.6 mmol (0292 example 1) reading on 1.59% tin.
With regards to claim 6, Takata teaches the amount of the nanoparticle in the curable composition to be 70% or less (0120).
With regards to claim 7, Takata teaches the particle size of the nanoparticle to be from 10 to 30 nm (0080).
With regards to claim 8, Takata teaches the particle size of the nanoparticle to be 20 to 25 nm (0080).
With regards to claim 9, Takata teaches the addition of a polymerization initiator (0131) that is a photopolymerization initiator (0133).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following references also teach a cerium or indium oxide nanoparticle: Takata et al (US 2022/0298348), Kaneko et al (US 6,107,360), and Yoneyama (US 2009/0178589).
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/JESSICA WHITELEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763