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
Claims 2-4 and 12-22 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on June 10, 2026.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 5-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hara et al (WO 2018097147).
With regards to claim 1, Hara teaches a curable composition (title) that includes a water soluble polyfunctional (meth)acrylamide (0008), a polymer having a photosensitive group (0008), and a colorant (0081). Hara teaches the polymer to be formed from repeating units from monomers having two ethylenically unsaturated bonds (0052-0053).
With regards to claim 5, Hara teaches the number of functional groups in the multifunctional (meth)acrylamide to be from 2 to 12 groups (0039) with preference to compounds having 2-4 functional groups (0044).
With regards to claim 6, Hara teaches the polyfunctional (meth)acrylamide (monomer A-5) to be 10 or 15% (0103).
With regards to claim 7, Hara teaches the composition to include a photopolymerization initiator (0088), a sensitizer (0076), and/or a surfactant (0080).
With regards to claims 8-10, Hara teaches the polymer to be in a solid state (0102).
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.
Claims 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hara et al (WO 2018097147).
The disclosure of Hara is adequately set forth in paragraph 4 above and is herein incorporated by reference.
With regards to claim 11, Hara does not teach the particle size of the solids in the composition. However, where 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, 124 (CCPA 1955). In this case, one skilled in the art prior to the effective filing date of the present invention would know to alter the particle size in order to achieve the desired properties including reaction rate, mixing and uniformity, surface areas, optical properties, mechanical properties and catalytic activity.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSICA WHITELEY whose telephone number is (571)272-5203. The examiner can normally be reached 8 - 5:00.
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/JESSICA WHITELEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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