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 .
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 of this title, 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 1-8 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yawata (US 2010/0076124).
With respect to claims 1 and 2, Yawata discloses an ultraviolet absorbent having formula
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, wherein at least one Y41 and Y42 represents a cyano group which has claimed Hammett’s substituent constant of 0.66 (paragraph 0075), V41 and V42 are each a hydrogen or monovalent substituted such as alkyl, acyl, carbamoyl, aryl, alkoxycarbonyl, and aryloxycarbonyl groups (paragraphs 0091-0095). Yawata teaches having maximum absorption wavelength of 350-400 nm and a half value width of 55 nm or less (abstract, Figure 1), wherein measurements are made in ethyl acetate (paragraph 0060).
Yaawata fails to explicitly disclose a value obtained by dividing an absorbance at a 430 nm by an absorbance at maximum absorption is 0.01 or less.
Even so, given that Yawata anticipate the claimed formula (1) and further given that it also discloses that the half value width is 55 nm or less (suggesting narrow spectrum), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to prepare an ultraviolet absorbing agent having the claimed low absorbance properties at 430 nm.
With respect to claim 3, Yawata teaches that a monovalent substituent that is alkyl includes branched alkyl group having 1-20 carbon atoms (paragraph 0133).
With respect to claim 4, Yawata discloses a more general formula than above that is
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, wherein V41- and V42 are each hydrogen or a monovalent substituent (paragraphs 0015-0016) such as alkyl groups having 1-20 carbon atoms (paragraph 0133).
With respect to claims 5-7, Yawata teaches that the UV absorbing agent is added to a dispersing medium such as thermoplastic poly(meth)acrylic esters, polystyrene, polyesters, polyurethane, and polycarbonate and thermosetting (curable) epoxy resins (paragraphs 0284-0285).
With respect to claim 8, Yawata teaches that articles made its composition can be used in optical materials (paragraph 0311).
With respect to claim 11, Yawata discloses an ultraviolet absorbent having formula
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, wherein at least one Y41 and Y42 represents a cyano group which has claimed Hammett’s substituent constant of 0.66 (paragraph 0075), V41 and V42 are each a hydrogen or monovalent substituted group such as alkyl (paragraphs 0091-0095). Yawata teaches that a monovalent substituent that is alkyl includes branched alkyl group having 1-20 carbon atoms (paragraph 0133).
This compound does not include claimed R3a and R4a that is other than hydrogen.
Even so, Yawata discloses a more general formula than above that is
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, wherein V41- and V42 are each hydrogen or a monovalent substituent (paragraphs 0015-0016) such as alkyl groups having 1-20 carbon atoms (paragraph 0133).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize an alkyl group in claimed positions R3a and R4a.
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yawata (US 2010/0076124) in view of Sato (US 3,694,211) and Kim (KR 2001-0073460).
Yawata discloses an ultraviolet absorbent having formula
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, wherein at least one Y41 and Y42 represents a cyano group which has claimed Hammett’s substituent constant of 0.66 (paragraph 0075), V41 and V42 are each a hydrogen or monovalent substituted such as alkyl, acyl, carbamoyl, aryl, alkoxycarbonyl, and aryloxycarbonyl groups (paragraphs 0091-0095).
Yawata does not disclose that its benzodithiol UV absorber is prepared by (i) reacting with a hydroxy-reactive compound of formula (2) or (ii) treating said compound with an adsorbent.
With respect to (i), Sato discloses benzodithiols and teaches that a compound modified with claimed R1 and R2 alkyl groups is prepared by reacting a compound with R1 and R2 hydroxy groups and dodecyl bromide doddecyloxy groups (col. 5, lines 10-15).
Given that Sato discloses how to form the alkoxy group on the benzene ring of the benzodithiol, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the same step in the preparation of Yawata’s UV absorber.
With respect to (ii), Kim discloses a benzodithiol compound and teaches that conventionally after synthesizing a compound such as 2-(3-methylbutoxy)-1,3-benzodithiol color is removed by using activated carbon (paragraph 0015).
Given that Kim teaches that benzodithiols conventionally remove color from the compound with an activated carbon adsorbent, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the same treatment in the preparation of Yawata’s UV absorber.
Conclusion
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/Vickey Nerangis/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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