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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Liao et al. (WO 20201138124). It is noted that the disclosures of Liao et al. are based on US 2022/0073817 which is an English equivalent of the reference.
Regarding claims 1 and 3, Liao et al. teaches a quantum dot-containing film made from using a composition comprising quantum dots (A), a base component (C) (See Abstract, paragraph [0011]) wherein base component (C) includes photopolymerizable monomer and photopolymerizable polymer compound (paragraphs [0144]-[0147]). The film is cured (paragraph [0156]).
Liao et al. teaches the obtained film-forming composition is applied onto a glass substrate by a spin coating method to form a coating film having a film thickness of 5 um. Then, the coating film is baked at 100°C in air, and then the coating film is fully exposed and cured at an exposure amount of 50 mJ/cm². Further, the cured film is baked at 200°C for 60 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere (paragraph [0441]). Given that the cured film in the present invention can be obtained if the exposure amount X (mJ/cm²) in the exposure step x (thermal curing temperature Y (° C) x (thermal curing time Z (hr))² in the thermal curing step is 6500 or more (claim 5), when the curing step of the cured film described in preparation example 6 of Liao et al. is substituted into the above formula, it is understood that 50 mJ/cm² x 200°C x (1 hr)² = 10,000 which falls within the range of 6500 or more. Therefore, given that the method for producing the cured film disclosed in Liao et al. corresponds to the method for producing the cured film of the invention of the present application, the cured film corresponds to the cured film of the invention as in claim 1 of the present application. That is, the cured film of Liao et al. would necessarily have a Martens hardness of greater than 0.10 GPa as presently claimed, absent evidence to the contrary.
Regarding claim 2, Liao et al. teaches further comprising a photopolymerization initiator (paragraph [0160]).
Claim(s) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao et al. (WO 20201138124) in view of Kim et al. (JP 2019174804).
Liao et al. is relied upon as disclosed above.
Regarding claim 4, Liao et al. fails to teach wherein the curable composition further comprises a light scattering agent.
However, Kim teaches a light converting resin composition comprising quantum dots, scattering particles, a cardo-based binder resin, a thermosetting agent including an epoxy binder resin having curable groups (See Abstract, pages 6 and 15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include scattering particles in the film of Liao et al. in order to improve light efficiency (pages 6-7).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHENG HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7387. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 7 AM to 5 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Callie Shosho, can be reached at 571-272-1123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHENG YUAN HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
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