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 .
This communication responds to the application and amended claim set filed July 31, 2023. Claims 1-4 are currently pending
Priority
This application is the national stage entry of PCT/JP2021/046005, filed December 14,2021, which claims priority to JP2021-014983, filed February 2,2021. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, line 10, “represented by the following general formula [1]” is suggested to be replaced to “ represented by general formula [1]” in order to ensure consistency.
In claim 1, line 11, “represented by the following general formula [3]” is suggested to be replaced to “ represented by general formula [3]” in order to ensure consistency.
In claim 1, line 24, “represented by the following general formula [2]” is suggested to be replaced to “ represented by general formula [2]” in order to ensure consistency.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayashida (WO 2014/148641 as listed on the IDS dated 7/31/2023 and/or US PG Pub 2016/0024301 A1, wherein US PG Pub 2016/0024301 A1 is being used as English Translation herewith).
Regarding claim 1, Hayashida teaches a polycarbonate resin composition comprising, relative to 100 parts by weight of a resin component consisting of a polycarbonate- polydiorganosiloxane copolymer (PC-PDMS copolymer, which correspond to component A) and an aromatic polycarbonate resin (PC resin, which correspond to component B), 5 to 45 parts by weight of phosphorus-based flame retardant including a phosphazene compound (claim 5, [0218]) and 0.01 to 3 parts by weight of a fluorine-containing anti-dripping agent (claim 1), wherein the examples disclose a content of 10-70 parts by weight of the PC-PDMS and 30-90 parts by weight of the PC (Table 1); wherein the viscosity average molecular weight (Mv) of the PC-PDMS copolymer (component A) is 11,000 to 30,000 [0119] and the viscosity average molecular weight (Mv) of the PC resin (component B) is 11,000 to 30,000 [0173], which implies a ratio of the Mv of component A to the Mv of component B of 0.36 to 2.7.
Hayashida further teaches a PC-PDMS copolymer resin composed of a polycarbonate block derived from a dihydric phenol represented by the formula (1) and a polydiorganosiloxane block derived from a dihydric phenol represented by formula (3) (claim 4). It is noted that interfacial polymerization of the dihydric phenol of formula (1) and the hydroxyaryl-terminated polydioorganosiloxane of formula (3) with a carbonate ester results in the formation of carbonate linkages (-O-CO-O), which form a copolymer comprising carbonate-containing repeating units that are derived from formulas (1) and (3), that are represented by the claimed formulas [1] and [3], as recited in the instant claim. Furthermore, Hayashida teaches the diorganosiloxane polymerization degree (p+q) is more preferably 30-60 [0087], as required by the instant claim.
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Hayashida and the claims differ in that Hayashida does not teach the claimed ranges for the phosphazene compound, fluorine-containing anti-dripping agent, Mv of component A and the ratio Mv component A/Mv component B as recited in the instant claims.
However, one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would have considered the invention to have been obvious because the ranges taught by Hayashida overlap the instantly claimed ranges and therefore are considered to establish a prima facie case of obviousness. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select any portion of the disclosed ranges including the instantly claimed ranges from the ranges disclosed in the prior art reference, MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 2, Hayashida teaches the polycarbonate-polydiorganosiloxane copolymer has an aggregate structure with polydiorganosiloxane domains dispersed in a polycarbonate matrix ([0101]-[0102], [0123]) wherein the average size of polyodiorganosiloxane domains is preferably 5 to 25 nm [0120] and a normalized dispersity of no more than 30% [0120]. Hayashida further teaches the total light transmittance is 88% or more [0127], as required by the instant claim.
Regarding claim 3, Hayashida teaches that any phosphazene compound is acceptable if it is a compound containing no halogen atom and having a phosphazene structure in the molecule represented by the formula —P(R2)=N—, wherein R2 is an organic group. The phosphazene compound is represented by the following formulas (7) (which correspond to a cyclic phosphazene), wherein n is an integer of 3-10, thereby reading on X1, X2, X3 and X4 are each a hydrogen atom, hydroxyl group, amino group or organic group containing no halogen atom, n is an integer of 3 (which correspond to the phosphazene cyclic structure of 100 mol%) and examples of the organic group are include alkoxy group, phenyl group, amino group and allyl group.
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Regarding claim 4, Hayashida teaches a molded articles obtained by molding the resin composition ([0013], (claim 13)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLGA L. DONAHUE whose telephone number is (571)270-1152. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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/OLGA LUCIA DONAHUE/Examiner, Art Unit 1763
/CATHERINE S BRANCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763