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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-14 are currently under examination.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over WO 2019238573, whose English equivalent is Angenendt et al.US 2021/0087693 (Angenendt) .
Angenendt teaches a process of treating a metal surface, such as Zn (abstract, [0040]), comprising the following steps:
Activating the metal surface with a colloidal activating solution comprising phosphates such as hopeite, phosphophyllite, scholzite and at least one polymeric compound composed of at least partially of styrene and/or α-olefin having no more than 5 carbon atoms and maleic acid, its anhydride and/or its imide, and additionally comprises polyoxalkylene unit[0006, 0013-0015,0041];
Applying a zinc phosphating solution to the activated metal surface to produce a zinc phosphate coating [0046-0047].
Regarding claims 1, 12 and 14, although Angenendt does not explicitly teach the claimed zinc phosphate layer coating weight, it would have been well within the skills of an ordinary artisan to have arrived at the claimed zinc phosphate coating weight via routine optimization of the zinc phosphating time in order to achieve desired corrosion protection levels in the zinc phosphate coating layer.
Regarding claim 2, Angenendt further teaches that the phosphate in the activating solution is present in an amount less than 200mg/kg[0057], which encompasses the claimed phosphate amount. Therefore, prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 3, Angenendt further teaches that the activating solution has an alkaline pH as claimed [0059].
Regarding claim 4, Angenendt further teaches the amount of particulate constituent in the activation solution is at least 25 wt%[0014].
Regarding claim 5-6, Angenendt further teaches that polyoxyakylene units are present in an amount of at least 40wt%[0024] and the organic polymeric compound also have imidazole units as claimed[0025].
Regarding claim 7, Angenendt further teaches the presence of urea urethane resins thickener having an amine value of less than 8 mgKOH/g[0033].
Regarding claim 8, the total of polymeric organic compound based on the particulate constituent of the colloidal aqueous solution as taught by Angenendt is at 3 wt% but not exceeding 15wt% as claimed [0027].
Regarding claim 11, Angenendt further teaches the claimed dilution by a factor of 20 to 100,000 [0040].
Regarding claim 13, Angenendt further teaches the claimed 5-50g/kg of phosphate, 0.3-3g/kg of Zn ions and a total of less than 10ppm of Ni and/or Co[0046-0047, 0062].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LOIS L ZHENG whose telephone number is (571)272-1248. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:15-4:45.
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LOIS ZHENG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1733
/LOIS L ZHENG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733