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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-6, in the reply filed on 12/09/2025 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/24/2024, 03/08/2024, 10/08/2025 and 01/30/2026 has 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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ebara et al. (WO 2018/225825).
Regarding claim 1, Ebara teaches a resin thin film laminate which serves as a substrate for a flexible device which is a transparent hear resistant laminate (“a transparent heat-resistant laminate”) (Paragraph [0001]). The laminated comprise a release layer (“layer a”) and a resin thin film (“layer b”) in contact with each other which are both formed form polyimides (“layer a: a layer that comprises a polyimide composition”) (Paragraph [0014]-[0015]). The release layer does not comprise silicon dioxide particles and the resin thin film does contain silicon dioxide particles (“layer b: a layer that contains a polyimide composition and has a higher inorganic filler content that the layer a”) (Paragraph [0011]). Furthermore, a fine structure may be formed on the release layer in order to further enhance adhesion to the resin thin film (“an intermingled layer is present at an interface between the layer a and the layer b”) (Paragraph [0079]).
Ebara is silent with respect to the thickness of the intermediate layer being 3 microns or more.
However, one of ordinary skill in the art would find it obvious to optimize the thickness of the intermediate layer to be overlapping with 3 microns or more in order to enhance the adhesion between the release layer and the resin thin film as discussed above. MPEP 2144.05(II)(A): "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Regarding claim 2, Ebara teaches the laminates as discussed above with respect to claim 1. As discussed above, the release layer, equivalent to layer a, does not comprise silicon dioxide particles.
Regarding claim 3, Ebara teaches the laminates as discussed above with respect to claim 1. As discussed above, the resin thin film, equivalent to layer b, contains silicon dioxide particles. The resin thin film is formed with a polyamide mixed with silicon dioxide particles at a ratio of 10:1 to 1:10 by mass and the solids content is 0.5 to 30% by mass (Paragraph [0070]). One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the resulting mass percentage of silica dioxide particles is at least 0.05% by mass or greater.
Regarding claim 4, Ebara teaches the laminates as discussed above with respect to claim 1. The thickness of the resin thin film layer is from 5 to 50 microns and the thicknes of the release layer is from 1 nm to 200 microns resulting in a total thicknes from 5 microns to 250 microns (Paragraphs [0070]; [0080]).
Regarding claim 5, Ebara teaches the laminates as discussed above with respect to claim 1. As discussed above, the release layer and the resin thin film layers are both formed from a polyimide resin composition.
Regarding claim 6, Ebara teaches the laminates as discussed above with respect to claim 1. As shown in figure 7, the laminates only include the release layer, the resin thin film layer and the interface between the two (Paragraph [0098]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL P DILLON whose telephone number is (571)270-5657. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri; 8 AM to 5 PM.
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/DANIEL P DILLON/Examiner, Art Unit 1783
/MARIA V EWALD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1783