DETAILED ACTION
Claim Status
Claim(s) 18, 21-34 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 18, 21-26 is/are rejected.
Claim(s) 27-34 is/are withdrawn from consideration.
Claim(s) 1-17, 19-20 is/are cancelled by Applicant.
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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Response to Election of Species
Applicant’s election of the species “Chemical Formula 8”. specifically “2-amino-1-ethenylcyclpentan-1-ol” without traverse in the reply filed on 03/16/2026 is acknowledged.
The species “2-amino-1-ethenylcyclpentan-1-ol” is allowable over the prior art of record. The prior art of record fails to specifically disclose or suggest polymer layers covalently bonded to a ceramic layer wherein the covalently bonded polymer layer is formed from the polymerization of “2-amino-1-ethenylcyclpentan-1-ol” monomer in the absence of binder components and initiator compounds.
However, claims 18, 21-26 are generic and are subject to rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 in the present Office Action.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Many portions of the chemical formulas 1-11 in the specification are ILLEGIBLE
due to:
(1) the very small size of the text labeling the various groups within said chemical formula diagrams (e.g., A11; L11; R11; etc.);
AND
(2) the presence of significant pixelation of lines within said chemical formula diagrams 1-11.
The presence of (1) and (2) above create significant legibility and readability issues for the Examiner, in addition to resulting in a scanned image and/or text which is low contrast, heavily pixelated, contains significant amounts of indistinguishable text, and therefore are not appropriately legible.
MPEP 608.01 requires that the specification (including the abstract and claims), and any amendments for applications must have text presented in a form having sufficient clarity and contrast between the paper and the writing thereon to permit the direct reproduction of readily legible copies in any number by use of photographic, electrostatic, photo-offset, and microfilming processes and electronic capture by use of digital imaging and optical character recognition; and only a single column of text. See 37 CFR 1.52(a)
Appropriate correction is required. Applicant should provide a clean copy of the Specification with ALL text and ALL chemical structures which are clearly legible (and scannable) in accordance with the legibility requirements of MPEP 608.01 (i.e., all text is adequately sized for clarity (even in scanned images); and not pixelated; etc. -- for example: using larger text for the chemical group labels; clearer and higher resolution lines in the chemical structures; etc.) and file a Substitute Specification as needed to remedy these deficiencies.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 (AIA )
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.
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.
Claim(s) 18, 21-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• CLOUGH ET AL (US 2018/0236755),
in view of HIRASE ET AL (US 2018/0212193),
and in view of COHEN ET AL (US 2010/0035074).
CLOUGH ET AL ‘755 discloses a light-transmissive gas barrier film comprising:
• a light-transmissive substrate (112) (e.g., polymer films, etc.) (corresponding to the recited “plastic base layer”);
• a light-transmissive inorganic barrier layer (115) (e.g., metal, metal oxide, etc.) (corresponding to the recited “metal layer”);
• an optional adhesion-modifying layer (118);
• a top polymer layer (119), which can be in direct contact with the inorganic barrier layer (115) (corresponding to the recited “polymer sealing layer formed on the metal layer without an adhesive layer interposed between the metal layer and the polymer sealing layer” and the recited “no adhesive material bonding the metal layer and the polymer sealing layer”), wherein the top polymer layer (119) can be formed by conventional coating methods (e.g., plasma polymerization, etc.), wherein the top polymer layer (119) is the reaction product of polymerizable monomers (e.g., (meth)acrylate monomers, optionally in combination with other polymerizable monomers), wherein the top polymer layer (119) does not require a binder and does not require initiators;
wherein the light-transmissive gas barrier film can have: (i) a reduced water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of less than about 0.05 or 0.01 or 0.005 or 0.0005 or 0.00005 g/m2-day; (ii) an oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of less than about 0.1 or 0.05 or 0.01 or 0.008 or 0.005 or 0.0005 cc/m2-day; and (iii) an average spectral light transmission of 75% to 98%. The light-transmissive gas barrier films are useful for protecting electronic devices (e.g., photovoltaic devices, organic light-emitting displays (OLEDs), etc.). (entire document, e.g., paragraph 0005-0013, 0031-0036, 0050-0051, 0053-0056, 0061, 0087-0091, 0094-0095, etc.) However, the reference does not specifically disclose a polymer layer covalently bonded to a metal layer.
HIRASE ET AL ‘193 discloses that it is well known in the art that a polymer layer (14b) positioned on an inorganic barrier layer (14a) is useful for covering defects and/or cracks in the inorganic oxide barrier layer (14a) and thereby prevents the loss of barrier properties in a sealing film for EL devices. (paragraph 0071, etc.)
COHEN ET AL ‘074 discloses that it is well known in the art to form polymeric layers on organic or inorganic (e.g., metal, metal oxide, etc.) surfaces, wherein the polymeric layer are formed by graft polymerization of one or more monomer(s) (e.g., (meth)acrylate monomers, etc.) directly onto the organic or inorganic surface in order to form dense, highly uniform layers of polymer molecules which are covalently bonded directly to said surfaces. The graft-polymerized polymeric layer is formed by:
• providing an organic or inorganic surface with “active sites” which are functional groups capable of initiating polymerization of monomers (e.g., peroxide; oxide; hydroxyl; amines, hydrides, epoxides, etc.) using a plasma treatment;
• treating the activated surface directly with an ethylenically unsaturated monomer (or monomer solution) (e.g., but not limited to, (meth)acrylates, vinyl pyridine, etc.);
• forming polymer chains in situ (corresponding to the recited “polymerization reactions of at least one monomer”) which are covalently bound (corresponding to the recited “covalent bonding”) at one end directly to the activated inorganic surface (corresponding to the recited “metal layer”) to form a graft-polymerized polymeric layer covalently bonded to the activated inorganic surface (corresponding to the recited “polymer molecules attached to the metal layer by covalent bonding as a result of polymerization reactions of at least one monomer on the metal sealing layer”), wherein the polymeric coating is formed directly from monomers and does not require the use of a separate or pre-polymerized binder (corresponding to the recited absence of “a pre-polymerized polymer composition” or initiator compounds).
(Figure 1, etc.; paragraph 0003-0006, 0010, 0014-0016, 0043-0044, 0046, 0053, 0058-0062, 0064-0065, 0067-0069, 0072, etc.)
Regarding claims 18, 21-24, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a known “graft polymerization directly from monomer onto an activated surface” coating method as disclosed in COHEN ET AL ‘074 to form the top polymer layer (119) (corresponding to the recited “polymer sealing layer”) of CLOUGH ET AL ‘755 directly on the surface of an inorganic (e.g., metal) barrier layer (115) (corresponding to the recited “metal layer”) without the use of pre-polymerized binders or initiator compounds, wherein the generation of reactive functional groups (as disclosed in COHEN ET AL ‘074) on the metal barrier layer (115) prior to contact with reactive monomers allows the direct formation (from monomers) of top polymer layer (119) (corresponding to the recited “polymer sealing layer”) of CLOUGH ET AL ‘755 which is covalently bonded to the metal barrier layer (115) (corresponding to the recited “polymer molecules attached to the metal layer by covalent bonding as a result of polymerization reactions of at least one monomer on the metal layer”) in order to form an adherent, dense, and highly uniform organic polymer layer which protects the metal barrier layer (115) of CLOUGH ET AL ‘755 and furthermore covers and/or fills existing defects and/or cracks in the metal barrier layer (115) as suggested by HIRASE ET AL ‘193.
Further regarding claim 18, since covalently bonded graft-polymerized coating layers directly from monomers in accordance with COHEN ET AL ‘074 can be formed using monomer solutions with enhanced surface wetting characteristics (e.g., with the appropriate selection of solvents, etc.), the Examiner has reason to believe that a highly wetting, low viscosity monomer solution in accordance with COHEN ET AL ‘074 would be capable of penetrating pre-existing cracks or defects in the metal barrier layer (115) of CLOUGH ET AL ‘755 and subsequent graft polymerization would result in formation of polymer chains end-grafted to the sides of any pre-existing cracks or defects in the metal barrier layer (115) as recited in claim 1, therefore the Examiner has basis for shifting the burden of proof to applicant as in In re Fitzgerald et al., 205 USPQ 594.
Regarding claim 25, since polymerization reactions typically does not exhibit 100% efficiency or completion, the Examiner has reason to believe that the top polymer layer (119) (corresponding to the recited “polymer sealing layer”) of CLOUGH ET AL ‘755 made in accordance with the known surface activation / graft polymerization of monomer coating methods of COHEN ET AL ‘074 would contain minor or residual amounts of partially polymerized monomers as recited in claim 7, therefore the Examiner has basis for shifting the burden of proof to applicant as in In re Fitzgerald et al., 205 USPQ 594.
Claim(s) 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• CLOUGH ET AL (US 2018/0236755), in view of HIRASE ET AL (US 2018/0212193), and in view of COHEN ET AL (US 2010/0035074),
as applied to claims 18, 21-25 above,
and further in view of BADYAL ET AL (US 2009/0318609).
BADYAL ET AL ‘609 discloses that it is well known in the art to incorporate polymerizable nitrogen-containing aromatic heterocyclic monomers (e.g., pyridine compounds, pyrrole compounds, pyrimidine compounds, etc., -- for example, vinyl pyridine compounds such as 4-vinyl pyridine, 2-vinyl pyridine, etc.) into polymer coatings (e.g., for metal surfaces, etc.) formed by plasma polymerization in order to provide said polymer coatings with surface suitable for further functionalization (e.g., to provide anti-bacterial properties; etc.), wherein the nitrogen-containing monomers can be combined with other monomers with polymerizable unsaturated groups (e.g., acrylate, methacrylate, etc.) (paragraph 0001, 0005-0006, 0013-0023, 0031, 0039, 0045-0049, 0053, 0056, 0064, etc.)
Regarding claims 26, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate known nitrogen-containing aromatic heterocyclic monomers (e.g., pyridine compounds, pyrrole compounds, pyrimidine compounds, etc. -- for example, vinyl pyridine compounds such as 4-vinyl pyridine, 2-vinyl pyridine, etc., as suggested in BADYAL ET AL ‘609) (corresponding to the recited “at least one monomer” of the recited “Chemical Formula 3”) as additional polymerizable comonomers in the top polymer layer (119) (corresponding to the recited “polymer sealing layer”) of CLOUGH ET AL ‘755 in order to produce gas barrier films with additional functionalities (e.g., anti-bacterial or anti-fouling characteristics, etc.).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
NOMULA (US 2006/0134418) disclose metallized films with protective surface coatings.
ANAND ET AL (US 5,013,338) disclose plasma polymerized coatings derived from vinyl pyridine compounds.
GOLDBERG ET AL (US 5,804,263) disclose energy-polymerized coatings derived from vinyl pyridine compounds.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Vivian Chen (Vivian.chen@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 272-1506. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 6 PM. The examiner can also be reached on alternate Fridays.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Callie Shosho, can be reached on (571) 272-1123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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April 4, 2026
/Vivian Chen/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787