DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of group I, claims 26-34, and 45 in the reply filed on 7/28/25 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is no serious search burden. This is not found persuasive because for 371 applications that is not a lack of unity standard. Further each group would be in different classes and subclasses.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 35-44 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 7/28/25.
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 26-34, 45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Compoint et al (US Publication 20200189967).
As to claim 26, 30-32 and 45, Compoint discloses a temperable tinted glass substrate that is partially coated with at least one black mineral pigment for a motor vehicle roof (abs). The coating composition of the mineral paint has sodium silicate, potassium silicate or lithium silicate (glass matrix) (paragraph 13). The mineral paint layer after drying is at least 1 microns thick (paragraph 16). The color coordinates of the paint, the L* value is less than around 5 and the components a* and b* preferentially neutral and tend towards 0. However this reference is silent to the specifics of the color values.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Compoint and formed the tinted glass to have a mineral paint coating layer wherein the color values of the black pigment had an L* value of less than or equal to 15, an a* value of between -5 and +6 and a b* value of -4 to +5 as one of ordinary skill art would know how to adjust the pigment or pigments used within the composition to get a desired color and further Compoint discloses that this is a suitable color for use as a coating for a roof glazing as Compoint wants a neutral a* and b* that is a black pigment.
As to claim 27, Compoint is silent to the optical density of the glass substrate, however teaches that a very tinted window would have an optical density of 3 and allow .01% of light through while an optical density of .3 would allow 50% of light though (paragraph 20). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Compoint to adjust the tint of the window depending upon the desired end use of the window depending upon if a user wants more or less tint.
As to claim 28, Compoint is silent to the pigment particles having an average particle diameter of .05 to .8 microns. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have adjusted to the particle size to be .05 to .8 microns as one of ordinary skill in the art knows that adjusting the particle size will affect the opacity of the paint and therefore depending upon the end tint amount one could adjust the particle size to control the opacity. Further see MPEP 2144.04. Change in size.
As to claim 29, Compoint is silent to the scratch resistance being at least 5 N. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Compoint and formed the surface to have a scratch resistance of at least 5 N as Compoint teaches the use of alumina within the coating (paragraph 9) which increase the strength of the coating, further one would know how to adjust the coating to provide more scratch resistance which would cost more while a lower resistance would be cheaper and allow the paint to damage easier.
As to claim 33, Compoint teaches that at least one face is partially coated with a black coating further it teaches enamels which are also printed on the glass (paragraph 28). However, this reference is silent to the edge of the glass being covered by the coating to be .5 to 20 cm which an inner uncoated region. Therefore, since the enamels are used for the edges of the glass and have a very black color value of less than L* 5(paragraph 18) it would have been obvious to have the enamel coating be between .5 and 20 and that the enamel coatings are known to cover only the edge to black out the adhesion connections underneath. Further Compoint discloses that the coating is only partially on the face and one of ordinary skill in the art could have only coated the edge of the glass in an amount of .5 to 20cm for to form an aesthetically pleasing image as well as to hide the imperfections.
As to claim 34, Compoint teaches mineral fillers and other materials which would read on applicant’s network precursors (paragraph 8-13).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER M POLLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-5734. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8am till 4:30 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Ruthkosky can be reached at 5712721291. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CHRISTOPHER M POLLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785
Prosecution Insights