DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected.
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.
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) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• BURCKHARDT ET AL (US 2018/0371148),
in view of WO 2019-044843 (KIGUCHI-WO ‘843) (relying on KIGUCHI ET AL (US 2020/0254743 for English translation);
and in view of LANGLOIS ET AL (US 2016/0194433),
and in view of BROWN (US 2007/0225419).
BURCKHARDT ET AL ‘148 discloses curable two-component polyurethane coating compositions, wherein the two-component coating compositions comprise:
(1) a polyol component containing:
• at least one primary polyol (e.g., poly(meth)acrylate polyols (corresponding to the recited “acrylic polyol”); etc.);
• at least one chain extender comprising a diol (corresponding to the recited “alkyl polyol”) (e.g., 1,2-ethanediol; 1,2- or 1,3-propanediol; neopentyl glycol; diethylene glycol; triethylene glycol; dipropylene glycols; tripropylene glycols, butanediols, pentanediols, hexanediols, heptanediols, octanediols, nonanediols, decanediols, undecanediols, 1,3- or 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol; 1,1,1-trimethylolethane; 1,1,1-trimethylolpropane; glycerol; etc.);
• optionally additional difunctional or polyfunctional alcohols (alternatively and/or additionally corresponding to the recited “alkyl polyol”) (e.g., glycerol, pentaerythritol, sugar alcohols such as, xylitol, sorbitol or mannitol; etc.);
(2) a polyisocyanate component containing at least one polyisocyanate (e.g., aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, arylaliphatic diisocyanates or triisocyanates; aromatic diisocyanates or triisocyanates; oligomers or derivatives of the previously mentioned diisocyanates or triisocyanates (such as oligomers containing isocyanurate groups, etc.));
wherein the two-component coating compositions are useful for forming cured coatings on substrates. (entire document, paragraph 0005, 0027, 0083, 0090, 0093, 0099, 0103, 0121-0128, 0165, 0175, 0180, 0184, 0191-0204, etc.) However, the reference does not specifically mention the hydroxyl value of acrylic polyols.
KIGUCHI-WO ‘843 discloses that it is well known in the art to utilize acrylic polyols with hydroxyl values of 25-380 mgKOH/g (preferably at most 150 mgKOH/g) in the polyol components of two-liquid (i.e., two-component) curable polyurethane coating compositions in order to produce surface coatings with advantageous hydrophilic and water repellency properties. The reference further discloses that it is well known in the art to form multilayer films comprising:
• a cured coating layer formed from a two-liquid urethane coating composition;
• a substrate layer (e.g., film, etc.);
• an adhesive layer;
in order to produce protective articles which can adhesively bonded to other surfaces. (KIGUCHI ET AL ‘743, paragraph 0008, 0010-0019, 0021, 0025, 0029-0032, 0074-0080, 0093-0095, 0098-0102, 0114-0116, 0122-0124, etc.) (see corresponding portions of KIGUCHI-WO ‘843)
LANGLOIS ET AL ‘433 discloses that it is well known in the art to utilize low molecular weight polyols as chain extenders (e.g., such as, but not limited to, ethylene glycol; propylene glycol; trimethylolpropane; glycerol; 1,4-butanediol; etc.) into the polyol component (e.g., comprising acrylic polyols, etc.) of urethane compositions (e.g., two component compositions, etc.) to modify or improve various properties of the resulting urethane compositions (e.g., by forming hard segments in the resulting urethane compositions, etc.), wherein the chain extenders are typically utilized amounts of less than 20 wt% (but can be present in more than 50 wt% for some applications) (paragraph 0055, 0091, 0106, 0108, 0123, etc.)
BROWN ‘419 discloses that it is well known in the art to incorporate chain extenders (e.g., low molecular weight reactants such as ethylene glycol; glycerin; 1,4-butanediol; trimethylolpropane; glycerol; sorbitol; etc.) into the polyol component of urethane compositions to modify various properties of the resulting urethane compositions (e.g., improve mechanical properties; improve water resistance; material costs; etc.) (paragraph 0075-0079, etc.)
Regarding claims 1, 3-6, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize known acrylic polyols (e.g., with hydroxyl values of 25-380 mgKOH/g, preferably less than 150 mgKOH/g, as suggested in KIGUCHI-WO ‘843) in the polyol component in the curable two-component coating compositions of BURCKHARDT ET AL ‘148 in order to produce cured coatings with desirable durability and/or water-stain resistance properties.
Regarding claim 2, one of ordinary skill in the art would have utilized effective relative amounts of chain extending polyol (corresponding to the recited “alkyl polyol”) (e.g., less than 20 wt%, but in some cases, more than 50 wt%, as suggested in LANGLOIS ET AL ‘433) and therefore the corresponding relative amount (more than 80 wt%, but in some cases, less than 50 wt%) of a primary acrylic polyol in the polyol component in the curable two-component coating compositions of BURCKHARDT ET AL ‘148 in order to optimize various performance properties of the resulting cured coating (e.g., mechanical properties; water resistance; elasticity; flexibility; stiffness, hardness, durability; etc.) for specific applications, in addition to reducing material costs (since acrylic polyols is typically more complicated to produce and therefore tend to be more expensive than simpler diols or triols) as suggested in LANGLOIS ET AL ‘433 and BROWN ‘419.
Regarding claim 7, one of ordinary skill in the art would have applied an adhesive layer on the side of a film substrate opposite to a cured urethane coating as suggested in KIGUCHI-WO ‘843) in order to produce multilayer films with the cured coatings of BURCKHARDT ET AL ‘148 which can be subsequently mounted to other surfaces or structures.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• BURCKHARDT ET AL (US 2018/0371148), in view of WO 2019-044843 (KIGUCHI-WO ‘843) (relying on KIGUCHI ET AL (US 2020/0254743 for English translation), and in view of LANGLOIS ET AL (US 2016/0194433), and in view of BROWN (US 2007/0225419),
as applied to claims 1-7 above,
and further in view of SONDHE ET AL (US 5,340,652).
SONDHE ET AL ‘652 discloses that it is well known in the art to incorporate diols or triols (e.g., but not limited to, ethylene glycol; propylene glycol; butanediol; dipropylene glycol; diethylene glycol; glycerol; trimethylol propanediol; etc.) as chain extenders in the polyol component of two-component urethane compositions in typical amounts of 5-25 parts, based on 100 parts of the entire polyol component, in order to introduce stiffness into the resulting urethane composition. (line 20-40, col. 9; line 68, col. 10 to line 15, col. 11; etc.)
Regarding claim 2, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize known effective amounts (e.g., 5-25 parts, based on 100 parts of the entire polyol component, as suggested in SONDHE ET AL ‘652) of known chain extending polyols (corresponding to the recited “alkyl polyol”) and therefore corresponding amounts of a primary acrylic polyol (e.g., 95-75 parts, based on 100 parts of the entire polyol component) in the polyol component in the curable two-component coating compositions of BURCKHARDT ET AL ‘148 in order to optimize various performance properties of the resulting cured coating (e.g., mechanical properties; water resistance; elasticity; flexibility; stiffness, hardness, durability; etc.) for specific applications, in addition to reducing material costs (since acrylic polyols is typically more complicated to produce and therefore tend to be more expensive than simpler diols or triols) as suggested in LANGLOIS ET AL ‘433 and BROWN ‘419.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
JP 2018-035309 and EVESON ET AL (US 2017/0081488) and GUO ET AL (US 6,294,607) and SHEN ET AL (US 2022/0002469) and BROWN (US 2007/0225391) and ENGEN (US 5,587,448) disclose polyurethane coatings formed from polyols and (cyclo)aliphatic alcohol chain extenders.
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.
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September 27, 2025
/VIVIAN CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787