DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-13 are pending.
The foreign priority document No.2021-208259 filed on December 22, 2021 in Japan has been received and it is acknowledged.
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 1-7 and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karakawa (JP2021-039201 A, with machine translation made of record on February 05, 2026) in view of Ono et al. (TW 202136324, with citations from the English equivalent US 2023/0145264).
With regard to claims 1-3 and 6, Karakawa teaches a photosensitive composition comprising:
-a resin (A) containing an ethylenically unsaturated group and a carboxyl group;
-an epoxy resin (B);
-a photopolymerizable monomer (C); and
-a photopolymerization initiator (D)(abstract).
The resin (A) may be an acid-modified unsaturated epoxy ester resin obtained by reacting an epoxy compound with an unsaturated carboxylic acid and then with an acid anhydride (par.0024), and the epoxy compound may be bisphenol A-type novolac-type epoxy resin (par.0025). This resin (A) meets the limitations for the acid-modified vinyl group-containing resin (A) in claim 1.
An epoxy resin is a thermosetting resin (B), as defined in par.0080 of the specification of the instant application.
Karakawa further teach that the photopolymerizable monomer (C) comprises at least an ethylenically unsaturated group and may comprise an alkylene oxide chain (abstract, par.0062-0065). The alkylene oxide chain is represented by the formula:
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70
200
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, wherein R is an alkylene group and q=1 to 100 (par.0013).
Karakawa et al. do not specifically teach a photopolymerizable monomer (C) comprising the number of alkylene oxide/oxyalkylene groups required in claims 1-3.
Ono et al. teach a photosensitive resin composition comprising a binder polymer, a photopolymerizable compound, and a photopolymerization initiator (abstract). The photopolymerizable compound may comprises a compound having three or more (meth)acryloyl groups from the viewpoint of improving sensitivity and adhesiveness, and the compound having three or more (meth)acryloyl groups may be an EO-modified ditrimethylolpropane tetra(meth)acrylate and EO-modified dipentaerythritol hexa(meth)acrylate (par.0048).
Ono et al. specifically teach EO-modified ditrimethylolpropane tetramethacrylate with 12 EO groups, EO-modified dipentaerythritol hexamethacrylate with 18 EO groups, and dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate with 12 EO groups (par.0114).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to use EO-modified ditrimethylolpropane tetramethacrylate with 12 EO groups, EO-modified dipentaerythritol hexamethacrylate with 18 EO groups, or dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate with 12 EO groups as photopolymerizable monomer (C) in the photosensitive composition of Karakawa, in order to improve the sensitivity and adhesiveness of the photosensitive composition.
Karakawa further teaches that the photosensitive composition may comprise the photopolymerizable monomer (C) in an amount of preferably 1-10mass% (par.0067). This range includes the ranges for the photopolymerizable compound in claims 1 and 6 of the instant application.
Therefore, the photosensitive composition of Karakawa modified by Ono is equivalent to the photosensitive resin compositions in claims 1-3 and 6 of the instant application,
With regard to claims 4 and 5, EO-modified ditrimethylolpropane tetramethacrylate with 12 EO groups, EO-modified dipentaerythritol hexamethacrylate with 18 EO groups, or dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate with 12 EO groups of Karakawa modified by Ono are alkylene oxide-methacrylate compounds.
The compounds above comprise polyoxyethylene chains, as required in claim 5.
With regard to claim 7, Karakawa teaches that the photosensitive composition may further contain an inorganic filler (E)(par.0073-0074).
With regard to claim 10, Karakawa teaches a photosensitive film obtained by applying the photosensitive composition onto a supporting substrate and drying the solvent to form a photosensitive resin composition layer (par.0098-0099).
With regard to claim 11, Karakawa teaches a printed wiring board including a layer formed from a cured product of the photosensitive composition (par.0106).
With regard to claim 12, Karakawa teaches a process comprising the steps of:
-coating the photosensitive composition onto a circuit board and drying the solvent to form a photosensitive film on the circuit board (par.0108);
-exposing the photosensitive layer with actinic rays through a mask (par.0113);
-developing the exposed layer to form a pattern (par.0115); and
-curing the developed pattern (par.0122).
With regard to claim 13, Karakawa teaches a process comprising the steps of:
-forming a photosensitive film on one or both sides of a circuit board using a photosensitive film with a support (par.0111).
-exposing the photosensitive layer with actinic rays through a mask (par.0113);
-developing the exposed layer to form a pattern (par.0115); and
-curing the developed pattern (par.0122).
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karakawa (JP2021-039201 A, with machine translation made of record on February 05, 2026) in view of Ono et al. (TW 202136324, with citations from the English equivalent US 2023/0145264) as applied to claim 1 and in further view of Komuro et al. (US 2019/0031790).
With regard to claim 8, Karawaka modified by Ono teaches the photosensitive resin composition of claim 1 (see paragraph 5 above), but fail to teach that the composition comprises an ion scavenger.
Komuro et al. teach a photosensitive composition comprising (A)an acid-modified vinyl group-containing epoxy resin, (B) a photopolymerization initiator, (C) an ion scavenger, and (D) a photopolymerizable compound (abstract).
Komuro et al. further teach that by including an ion scavenger (C) it is possible to form a resist pattern with an excellent resist shape. In addition, adhesion and fluidity tend to be improved. Furthermore, by containing an ion scavenger (C) it is possible to capture and deactivate ions that affect the reliability, so the ion scavenger (C) contributes to improvement in reliability (par.0116).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to include an ion scavenger in the photosensitive composition of Karakawa modified by Ono, in order to improve the resist pattern shape, and to improve the adhesion, fluidity, and reliability of the composition.
With regard to claim 9, Karawaka modified by Ono teaches the photosensitive resin composition of claim 1 (see paragraph 5 above), but fail to teach that the composition comprises an elastomer.
Komuro et al. teach a photosensitive composition comprising (A) an acid-modified vinyl group-containing epoxy resin, (B) a photopolymerization initiator, (C) an ion scavenger, and (D) a photopolymerizable compound (abstract). The composition further comprises an elastomer (H)(par.0149).
Komuro et al. further teach that by adding an elastomer (H) it is possible to suppress deterioration in flexibility and adhesive strength due to strain inside the resin caused by curing shrinkage of the resin (A) and is possible to improve the flexibility, adhesive strength of the cured film formed by the photosensitive composition (par.0149).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to include an elastomer in the photosensitive composition of Karakawa modified by Ono, in order to obtain a photosensitive composition which produces a cured film with improved flexibility and adhesive strength.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-13 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The examiner would like to note that:
-the objection to the drawings is withdrawn after the filing of the replacement sheet of the drawings;
-the objection to the specification is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to par.0013 and par.0137;
-the rejection of claims 1, 2, 4-7, and 10-13 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Karakawa (JP2021-039201 A, with machine translation made of record on February 05, 2026) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1; and
-the rejection of claims 8 and 9 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karakawa (JP2021-039201 A, with machine translation made of record on February 05, 2026) in view of Komuro et al. (US 2019/0031790) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1.
However, new grounds of rejection for claims 1-13 are presented in paragraphs 4-6 above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ANCA EOFF/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722
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