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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election without traverse of Group 1, claims 1-11 in the reply filed on 01/12/2026 is acknowledged. Accordingly, claims 12-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Claims 1-11 are currently under examination on the merits.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 2 are objected to because of the following informalities: “RH” should read “relative humidity (RH)”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Gotou et al (US 2013/0113860, of record, IDS 03/22/23, ‘860 hereafter).
Regarding claim 1, ‘860 discloses an ink composition comprising a coloring material ([0016], [0018]-[0020], Examples, Table 1-1); an organic solvent A being glycerin ([0017], Examples, Table 1-1 to Table 1-3), which has a boiling point of 290°C and an equilibrium moisture content of 49% by mass at 23°C and 80% RH ([0050], Examples, Table 1-1 to Table 1-3); a compound having chemical structure reading upon the presently claimed Chemical Formula I ([0017], [0041]-[043], Examples, Table 1-1 to Table 1-3); and a resin ([0038], [0167]-[0203], Examples, Table 1-2); wherein a proportion of the coloring material in the ink composition can be in a range of 2 to 15% by mass ([0122]-[0123]) and a solid content of the resin in the ink composition can be in a range of 1 to 15% by mass ([0202]-[0203]), which renders the total portions of pigment and resin overlapping presently claimed range of 15% or greater by mass. ‘860 does not specifically exemplify an embodiment having total portion of coloring material and resin with respect to total ink composition falling within 15 wt% or higher to render the claim being anticipated; however, it is known in the art that the content of a coloring material in an ink composition directly affects the optical density of the printed ink image ([0123], coloring ability), and the content of resin in an ink composition affects adhesion of coloring materials to a printed substrate ([0119], coloring particles being fixed by resin on a recording medium), thus the contents of coloring material and resin in an ink composition in fact are effective variables in terms of the optical density and adhesion properties of the ink composition. Case law holds that "discovery of an optimum value of a result effective variable in a known process is ordinarily within the skill of the art." See In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980). In view of this, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to adjust the contents of the coloring material and resin as taught by ‘860, within the scope of the present claim, so as to produce desired optical density and adhesion of the printed ink on a substrate.
Regarding claim 2, ‘860 also discloses the composition further containing an organic solvent B comprising a polyol such as propylene glycol, butanediol, or 2-ethyl-1,3-hexanediol, with boiling points in the range of 140°C to 250°C and with equilibrium moisture contents of 30 percent by mass or greater at 23°C and 80 percent RH ([0058], Examples, Table 1-1 to Table 1-3).
Regarding claim 3, ‘860 also discloses that the resin may have a glass transition temperature as low as -30°C, satisfying presently claimed glass transition temperature being 0°C or lower.
Regarding claims 4 and 5, ‘860 also discloses that the ink composition includes a surfactant, which can be a silicone-based surfactant or a fluorochemical surfactant ([0124]-[0155]).
Regarding claim 6, ‘860 also discloses an ink set comprising inks of various color depending on intended purpose which may include white color ([0082], ink with white pigments such as titanium oxide, calcium carbonate and barium sulfate) and other color inks ([0084], [0238]-0239], [0242]-[0247]).
Claims 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Gotou et al (US 2013/0113860, of record, , IDS 03/22/23, ‘860 hereafter) in view of Miyasa et al (US 2020/0040523, of record, IDS 12/05/25, ‘523 hereafter).
Regarding claims 7-9, ‘860 teaches all the limitations of claim 1, ‘860 also discloses an ink set comprising ink compositions with various colors depending on intended purpose ([0238]-[0239]), but does not set forth that the ink set comprising a pre-processing fluid as recited in the present claim 7. However, in the same filed of endeavor, ‘523 discloses an ink set comprising a color ink composition and a treatment liquid reading upon pre-processing fluid to improve chromogenic properties of ink-jet pigment printed material ([0005]-[0018], [0260]-[0264]); wherein the treatment liquid comprises an inorganic metal salt or a cationic resin being a flocculant ([0028]-[0038]), a non-ionic resin in a content range of 0.3 to 7.0 % by mass [0044]-[0057]), and water ([0063]-[0064]). In light of these teachings, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to use a treatment liquid as taught by ‘523, to modify the ink set of ‘860, in order to improve chromogenic properties of the material printed with the ink set.
Regarding claims 10 and 11, modified ‘860 teaches all the limitations of claim 7, ‘523 also discloses that the treatment liquid may further comprises a paraffin wax ([0066]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RUIYUN ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7934. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00-5:00 PM.
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/RUIYUN ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782