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
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.
Claim(s) 1-6 and 8-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2021/019353 (herein Leone).
As to claims 1, 6, Leone discloses a free radically polymerizable composition (see abstract, pages 1-2 and examples). The composition comprises "at least one free-radically polymerizable compound". See page 1, third to last line. Also see pages 3-5. The composition comprises metal salts of transition metals, specifically metal acetylacetonate (salts are neutral and thus reading on the claimed transition metal acetylacetonate coordination complex having neutral charge). See page 12, top paragraph. The composition also comprises a photoactivable reducing agent that has a photoremovable group (reading on the claimed photolabile reducing agent). See pages 1, 5-9 and examples (e.g. on page 23). See specifically the structure on page 23, reading on the photolabile reducing agent, wherein R1=R2=methyl (C1 hydrocarbyl), R4=H and R3=phenyl (C6 hydrocarbyl), the last structure on page 8, wherein R1=R2=methyl (C1 hydrocarbyl) and R4=R3=H, and the structure on page 9, wherein R1=R2 (C1 hydrocarbyl), R4=H, and R3=benzyl (C7 hydrocarbyl).
As to claim 2, the structures on page 2 are (meth)acrylate compounds. See pages 3-5 and examples.
As to claim 3, oxidizing agents such as peroxides aren ot required (optional). See abstract and examples not comprising oxidizer.
As to claim 4, the transition metal is taught as copper. See page 9.
As to claim 5, the transition metal is taught as manganese. See page 9.
As to claim 8, the metal salt (metal acetylacetonate) is present in 500 to 3000 ppm, which is about 0.05 to 0.3 parts per 100 parts by weight of free radical polymerizable compound. Also see examples that are within the claimed range.
As to claim 9, the photoactivatable reducing agent (photolabile reducing agent) is present in 0.1 to 5 parts per weight per total weight of the polymerizable components of the composition, which substantially falls within the claimed range. Also see examples that are within the claimed range.
As to claims 10-11, Leone discloses a method of exposing the composition to actinic radiation to initiate free-radical polymerization to yield a polymerized composition. See paragraph bridging pages 14-15 and examples.
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.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2021/019353 (herein Leone).
The discussion with respect to Leone set-forth above is incorporated herein by reference.
As to claim 7, table 2 formulation of example 1 comprises the monomers (free radically polymerizable compounds): 15 parts methacrylic acid, 3.98 parts hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), 7.5 parts NK-Ester SA, 39 parts GlyFoma, and 75 parts DDMA (compound having two methacrylate groups). thus, the amount of compound having two ore more (meth)acrylate groups is about 52 weight percent, which is outside the claimed range. Further, example 2 (table 5) has about 38 wt% compound with two or more (meth)acrylate groups (HC1101/IEM). Moreover, Leone discloses that the free radically polymerizable compounds (monomers) comprise acid monomer present up to 15 parts by weight and polar compounds up to 10 parts per weight and teaches monomers added to control the Tg. See pages 3-5. Leone also teaches that reactive diluents (e.g. low molecular weight monomers) are added to control the viscosity. Seepage 5. The multifunctional oligomers (compound having at least two (meth)acrylate groups) is also selected with a preference on viscosity, which ultimately controls the ability to spin coat the compositions. See page 5. In light of the discussion above, it is evident that the type and amount of monomers are selected with an eye twos controlling Tg, acidity, polarity and viscosity, which ultimately controls the processing of the composition (spin coating). Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time of the invention to have selected the amount of multifunctional oligomers (compound having at least two (meth)acrylate groups), including amounts of 5 to 30 weight percent and within the claimed range, via routine optimization of the amounts of monomers to achieve the desired acidity, polarity, Tg and viscosity, which ultimately yields desired properties such as appropriate processability (spin coating). See pages 3-5 of Leone.
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2021/019353 (herein Leone) in view of US 3,347,954 (herein Bredereck).
The discussion with respect to Leone set-forth above is incorporated herein by reference.
It is the examiner’s position that the claims are also rendered obvious in view of Bredereck.
Specifically, page 12 of Leone states that metal acetylacetonates are suitable and earlier mentions that the metals are transition metals, however does not have any examples with transition metal acetylacetonate coordination complexes having a neutral charge.
Bredereck discloses similar compositions with free radically polymerizable compounds and transition metal acetylacetonate coordination complexes. See examples. Bredereck specifically exemplifies copper acetylacetonate reading on the claimed complex as an example of being advantage in the process for being stable again water, soluble, and prevents discoloration. See col. 2.
Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time of the invention to have modified the composition and method of Leone with using copper acetylacetonate as suggested by Bredereck and thereby arriving at the claimed invention because one would want to improve stability, solubility and prevent discoloration. See col. 2 of Bredereck.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK S KAUCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-7340. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-6 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arrie Lanee Reuther can be reached at (571) 270-7026. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK S KAUCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764
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