DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the Response, filed 3/24/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-11 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration of the amendments, a new ground(s) of rejection is made below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-3, and 5-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saitoh (US PGP 2016-0187795) in view of Kanno (US PGP 2021-0181649).
Saitoh teaches a toner comprising a polyester resin and a crystalline polyester resin ([0015]). The exemplary toners contain an amorphous polyester resin, a prepolymer, and a crystalline polyester resin ([0266-278]). The amorphous polyester resins contain a monomer having a carboxyl group, terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, and adipic acid (Table 1-1). Similarly to the prepolymer 1 of the instant application, the amorphous polyester resin pA1 contains terephthalic acid, adipic acid, and 3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol as the monomer units for the intermediate product ([0268]). This product is then reacted with isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) to form the prepolymer ([0269]). The amount of the prepolymer used in the exemplary toners is from 7.6% to 14% (Table 3). The toner may be used with a carrier to form a developer ([0242]). Saitoh teaches an image forming apparatus and image forming method according to claims 9-11 ([0245-263]).
Saitoh is silent regarding a polyvalent metal ion. Kanno teaches a toner containing a multivalent metal element selected from the group consisting of Mg, Ca, Al, Fe, and Zn (Abstract). The multivalent metal element can form crosslinks that contribute to the toner fixing performance ([0131]). When the metal ion forms crosslinks with the monomer, the low-temperature fixability and hot offset resistance of the toner is improved ([0135]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the toner of Saitoh to have included the multivalent metal element of Kanno in order to improve the fixing performance of the toner.
The modified toner of Saitoh and Kanno has the same three resin components, the amorphous polyester, the polyester prepolymer, and the crystalline polyester, as the instant application. The production method of emulsification aggregation, with an addition of a metal salt to aggregate and crosslink the particles is also the same. The toner would therefore be expected to have similar viscoelastic properties as the instant application and fulfill the loss tangent and storage elastic modulus limitations of claims 1-3.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/J.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 06/24/2026
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