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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/20/25 has been entered.
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) 36-56 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cepress (US 20170109622) in view of Andelin (US 20170061269), JP813 (JP 4288813), and Suthar (US 20180165559)
Cepress discloses
36. A payment card, comprising:
a biodegradable substrate (Cepress, par. 21, 28); and a plurality of magnetic particles (Cepress discloses magnetic strip 24 is affixed onto the card; abstract, par. 4, 31; Cepress is silent to particles; Andelin teaches magnetic stripe is formed using ferrite magnetic particles of high coercivity bound together in a resin and embedded in the card; Abstract, par. 16, 41, 44; Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Andelin to withstand an external magnetic field without becoming demagnetized easily),
wherein:
the biodegradable substrate comprises a first substrate layer, a second substrate layer, a biodegradable tape layer 16, 50 and a chip pocket 44,
the biodegradable tape layer comprises a paper tape, cellophane type, or cellulose tape and is positioned between the first substrate layer and the second substrate layer and within a magnetic particle slot defined by the first substrate laver and the second substrate layer, the biodegradable tape layer includes a biodegradable adhesive on both surfaces thereof (Cepress/Andelin combination discloses a tape layer as a resin where the magnetic particles are bound and embedded in the card; Andelin, abstract, par. 16, 41; Cepress/Andelin is silent to the tape layer being biodegradable; JP813 discloses a biodegradable tape layer in the form of a binder resin on which for magnetic powder particles 6 are dispersed; see par. 22; the binder is a cellulose based resin which would have been obvious to be biodegradable as the card is to be biodegradable; par. 14; the binder is considered to act as an adhesive since it holds magnetic particles in position and is bonded to both the protective layer 5 and adhesive layer 7; JP813 further discloses the stripe is pressed to embed it the card; par. 4, 29; it is unclear the resin tape can be inserted into a slot; however, this feature is well known in the art as described in Suthar, par. 14, 16, 40, 42, 66, 93, in which Suthar also disclose the card may be of wood material which is biodegradable;
therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of JP813 and Suthar to ensure most of card materials being biodegradable as much as possible),
the plurality of magnetic particles are applied to the biodegradable tape layer within the magnetic particle slot forming a high coercivity (Andelin, par. 16, 44) magnetic stripe, the magnetic stripe encoded with payment account data (Cepress, par. 31), the magnetic particles are held in position by the biodegradable adhesive on the biodegradable tape layer (JP813, par. 14, 22, see discussion regarding claims above), and
the chip pocket contains a contact pad of a chip adhered to the biodegradable tape layer (Cepress is silent to the chip adhering to the same tape layer; however, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made that combined layers 18 and 12 as well as the magnetic stripe pocket 44 and chip pocket 46 could be sized to have the same depth so that the layers would share the same tape layer on the same level, which makes manufacturing easier; recall that it has been recognized that changing in size is an obvious expedient; MPEP 2144.04).
37.36, wherein the first substrate layer and the second substrate layer form a unitary structure comprising a single piece of material (Cepress, Fig. 2, 6)
38.36, further comprising a magnetic particle slot within the biodegradable substrate, wherein the magnetic particle slot is aligned with the magnetic particles on the first surface of the biodegradable tape layer (Cepress, Fig. 6; Andelin, abstract: stripe is embedded in the card).
39.36, further comprising a biodegradable water resistant coating, wherein the biodegradable water resistant coating covers at least the magnetic stripe (Cepress, par. 26: layers 18, 19 of plastic known to have waterproof property).
40.36, wherein the magnetic particles are transfer printed onto the biodegradable substrate (Andelin, par. 41: magnetic particles may be applied directly to the card 200 or made into a stripe on a plastic backing which is applied to the card 200).
41.36, wherein the biodegradable substrate consists essentially of compressed cellulose (Cepress, par. 24, 28)
42.36, wherein the biodegradable substrate consists essentially of wood (Cepress, abstract).
43.36, wherein the magnetic stripe is formed by printing the magnetic particles onto a biodegradable adhesive layer applied to the biodegradable substrate (JP813, par. 27).
44.36, wherein the magnetic particles comprise iron oxide (Andelin, par. 16, 41, ferrite magnetic particles inherently known to include iron oxide).
45.36, further comprising an antenna electrically connected to the chip and inserted between the two or more laminate layers (Cepress, par. 42)
Re claims 46-50, see discussion regarding claims above.
51.46, further comprising a protective coating derived from a biological material and applied to a surface of the biodegradable substrate, wherein the protective coating is configured to biodegrade over time (JP813 discloses card is known to have degradable plastic materials, thus it would have also been obvious that the protective layer can be made of biodegradable material)
52.46, wherein: the biodegradable tape layer further comprises a second surface, andthe first surface of the biodegradable tape layer and the second surface of the biodegradable tape layer include a biodegradable adhesive (JP813, Fig. 1-2)
53. 52, wherein the biodegradable adhesive including on the first surface of the biodegradable tape layer holds the magnetic particles in position to form the magnetic stripe (JP813, Figs. 1-2)
Re claim 54-55, see discussion regarding claims above.
56. 54, further comprising: applying a biodegradable water resistant coating to cover at least the magnetic stripe; and painting a marking on the second layer of the substrate using a biodegradable paint (JP813 discloses card is known to have all degradable materials, thus it would have also been obvious that the paint/ink can be made of biodegradable material).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of new ground of rejection.
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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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876