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 Analysis
Summary of Claim 1:
An inkjet ink comprising:
an aqueous medium; and pigment particles dispersed in the aqueous medium, wherein
the pigment particles contain a pigment and a specific resin,
the specific resin includes an acid group and a first repeating unit derived from a specific monomer, and has a crosslinking structure derived from a carbodiimide crosslinking agent,
the specific resin has a neutralization rate of at least 20% and no greater than 50%,
the first repeating unit has a percentage content in the specific resin of at least 1.0% by mass and no greater than 20.0% by mass, and
the specific monomer has a morpholine structure or a pyrrolidone structure.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aotani et al. (JP 2019038890 as listed on IDS dated ) in view of Lee et al. (US 20110046295).
The examiner will refer to the English translation of Aotani et al. (JP 2019038890) provided by the Applicant.
Regarding claim 1 and 2, Aotani et al. teach in Example 7 a colorant dispersion formed from mixing water, colorant particles, resin particles P-3 comprising acrylic acid monomers, and a carbodiimide crosslinking agent ([0089-0090], Table 3, machine translation provided below), thereby reading on an aqueous medium, pigment particles, and a resin including an acid group and a crosslinking structure as recited in the instant claim.
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Aotani et al. is silent on if the resin P-3 has a neutralization rate as recited in the instant claim.
However, Aotani et al. teach the degree of neutralization is of the resin is preferably from 10 to 100 mol% [0054], thereby overlapping the claimed range. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select the volumed median particle size as taught by Aotani et al.
Aotani et al. is silent on the resin particles comprising a specific monomer as recited in instant claims 1 and 2.
Lee et al. teach a colorant dispersion comprising a colorant and a polymer resin obtained by polymerizing a composition comprising a basic monomer, a macromonomer, and a polymerizable unsaturated monomer (claim 1). Lee et al. teach the basic monomer includes N-vinyl pyrrolidone [0043], thereby reading on the specific monomer of instant claim 1 and 2. Lee et al. further teach the basic monomer is present in an amount of about 1 to about 80 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the polymerizable unsaturated monomer and the amount of macromonomer is about 1 to about 100 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the polymerizable unsaturated monomer (claims 8 and 9). Therefore, the equivalent amount of the first repeating unit is calculated to be 0.5% to 45% by mass based on the specific resin taught by Lee et al. and thereby overlapping with the claimed range of at least 1.0% by mass and no greater than 20.0% by mass.
Lee et al. offer the motivation that electrostatic interaction between the colorant and the basic monomer may occur and thereby reduces the amount of polymer resin in an aqueous solution and inhibits clogging of the colorant with a large particle size [0053]. Aotani et al. is also concerned about clogging due to the particle size [0028]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add the basic monomer of Lee et al. to the resin particle of Aotani et al. with reasonable expectation that the clogging of the particles would be reduced.
Regarding claim 3, Aotani et al. teach in Example 7 the volume median particle size is 35 µm, thereby lying outside the claimed range.
However, Aotani et al. teach the volume median size of the resin particle is 20 to 100 nm (claim 3), thereby overlapping the claimed range of 80 nm to 130 nm. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select the volume median particle size as taught by Aotani et al.
Regarding claim 4, Aotani et al. teach the resin particle P-3 of Example 7 comprises the 20% of monomer A-3 having the structure shown in General Formula (1) shown below:
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Wherein R1 = methyl, R2 = ethylene, R3 = methyl, and m = 23 (see Table 1, machine translation provided below), thereby reading on the second repeating unit derived from a monomer with a polyethylene glycol structure and lying within the claimed range.
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREA WU whose telephone number is (571)272-0342. The examiner can normally be reached M F 8 - 5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Del Sole can be reached at (571) 272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREA WU/Examiner, Art Unit 1763
/CATHERINE S BRANCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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