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 .
Priority
An English translation of the foreign priority is not found in the file, the claims are given an effective date of the filing of the PCT: 3/9/22
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/16/25, 8/21/25, 6/5/25, 11/20/23, 8/21/23 have been considered by the examiner.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sannan (US 2011/0091771).
Sannan discloses coating compositions (title) comprising a polar solvent, a hydroxyl containing resin and an organic acid (abstract). The hydroxyl containing resin may be an ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymer (abstract), said copolymer having an ethylene content ranging from 10-70 mol% [0014, 0029] [meeting the resin A and ethylene content thereof of claim 1]. This range embraces and thusly renders the ethylene content of claim 1 prima facie obvious in light of the overlapping nature thereof. See In re Wertheim.
Sannan discloses the use of an active material such as those metal compounds of [0041] [meeting the metal compound C of claim 1] and the use of crosslinking materials such as a polyethylene glycol diglycidyl [0046] [meeting the ether compound B comprising a glycidyl group] or silane coupling agent [0048] [also alternatively meeting the metal compound C of claim 1, and, claim 4].
Elements above meet all the composition requirements of claim 1. Though picked from a list of possible combinations it has been held that though a specific embodiment is not taught as preferred makes it no less obvious, also, that the mere fact that a reference suggests a multitude of possible combinations does not in and of itself make any one of those combinations less obvious, see Merck v. Biocraft, 10 USPQ2d 1843 (Fed Cir 1985). Thus, claim 1 is prima facie obvious over Sannan.
Regarding claim 2, per 100p active material there is 0.1-20p EVOH and 0.01-200p crosslinking agent based on EVOH [0042, 0048]. In light of the above the following calculation is embraced by the reference: 20 p EVOH (Ma) / (100 p active material (Mc) + 20 p crosslinking agent (Mb)) = 0.17, thus claim 2 is embraced by Sannan. If instead one calculates based on using a 50:50 mix of crosslinking agents diglycidyl and silane crosslinking agents this can calculate to 20 p EVOH (Ma) / (10 p glycidyl (Mb) + 10 p silane (Mc)) = 1, which also meets the ratio of claim 2
Regarding claim 3: Again using the crosslinking agent as a 50:50 mix of glycidyl and silane, 10 p glycidyl (Mb) / 10 p silane (Mc) = 1, which meets claim 3.
The silane crosslinking agent discussed above meets claim 4, coating and drying the composition is disclosed in [0051], and, the substrate may be aluminum foil (abstract), as required by claim 5, this coated substrate meets claim 6.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuhara (WO 2020/213554, where US 2022/0153891 is used as an equivalent English document).
Fukuhara discloses aqueous solutions of ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers (title). The copolymer has an ethylene content of 1-15 mol% ethylene (abstract) [meeting resin A and the ethylene content thereof of claim 1]. The composition may further comprise a filler [0048-0050], said filler may include an inorganic filler such as aluminum hydroxide and titanium oxide [0048] [meeting the metal compound C of claim 1] and/or carboxymethylcellulose [0050] [meeting the hydroxyl containing resin B of claim 1].
Though the above combination of the above specified fillers and EVOH is picked from a list of possible combinations, it has been held that though a specific embodiment is not taught as preferred makes it no less obvious, also, that the mere fact that a reference suggests a multitude of possible combinations does not in and of itself make any one of those combinations less obvious, see Merck v. Biocraft, 10 USPQ2d 1843 (Fed Cir 1985).
As such, claim 1 is prima facie obvious over Fukuhara.
Regarding claim 2: the filler is added in amounts of 20-500p based on 100p EVOH. This can calculate to: 100 parts EVOH (Ma) / (50 p aluminum oxide (Mc) + 50 p carboxymethylcellulose (Mb)) = 1. Thus claim 2 is embraced and prima facie obvious over Fukuhara in light of the overlapping ranges thereof. See In re Wertheim.
Regarding claim 3: 50 p carboxymethylcellulose (Mb) / 50 parts aluminum oxide (Mc)= 1, alternatively 100 p carboxymethylcellulose (Mb) / 50 parts aluminum oxide (Mc) = 2, etc, meeting/embracing claim 3. Thus a prima facie case of obviousness exists over claim 3 in light of the overlapping ranges thereof.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: a heat exchanger comprising an aluminum metal comprising the coating of claim 1 is not suggested or disclosed by the prior art.
Sannan stands as the closest prior art to coating aluminum with the composition of claim 1, however, coating aluminum used in a heat exchanger is not suggested or disclosed. The substrates of Sannan are drawn to electrode plates, batteries and capacitors (abstract), use of such in a heat exchanger which would be subjected to high temperatures is not suggested or disclosed.
US2018/0134910, drawn to coatings for heat exchanges that comprise EVOH, however the mol% of ethylene is not suggested or disclosed
JPH09316434A drawn to coatings for heat exchanges that use polyvinyl alcohol (with no ethylene at all), use of the claimed EVOH therein is not suggested or disclosed
US6869677 drawn to heat exchangers and coatings thereon that uses polyvinyl alcohol (with no ethylene), use of the claimed EVOH is not suggested or disclosed
US20150232681 drawn to heat exchangers and coatings therefor using polyvinyl alcohol (with no ethylene), use of the claimed EVOH is not suggested or disclosed
Conclusion
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/ALICIA BLAND/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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