CTNF 18/441,283 CTNF 85104 5-1DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 1. 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 2. Applicants’ election without traverse of Group II (Claims 5-19; “a two-part adhesive formulation”) in the reply filed on 03/18/2026 is acknowledged. 08-06 3. Claims 1-4 and 20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 03/18/2026. Claim Objections 4. Claims 5, 8-9, 14, and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities: As to Claim 5 : The applicants are advised to add the term “and” before the claimed phrase “a Part A toughening agent”. As to Claim 8 : The applicants are advised to delete the period (.) after the claimed “oligomer”. As to Claim 9 : The applicants are advised to replace the claimed “said Part A monomer” with the new phrase “said Part A methacrylate monomer”. As to Claim 14 : The applicants are advised to delete the claimed phrase “is present” since this phrase is repeated twice. As to Claim 19 : The applicants are advised to replace the comma (,) with a period (.). Appropriate corrections are required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. 07-34-01 5. Claims 6-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. As to Claim 6 : As recited, it is not clear whether “a methacrylate phosphate monomer or oligomer” is part of “an adhesive Part A”, “an activator Part B”, or separate from Part A and Part B. It is noted that since claims 7-9, 11-14, and 17 are dependent on claim 6, they are rejected along with claim 6 because they incorporate all the limitations in claim 6, including those that are indefinite for the reasons forth above. As to Claim 10 : Claims 5 and 6, on which claim 10 depends from, do not provide any proper antecedent basis for “ said Part A monomer reactant” and “ said Part B monomer reactant”, and thus, it is not clear what they are referring to ( Emphasis added ). As to Claim 15 and 16 : It is not clear whether “said impact modifier” and “said toughening agent” recited in claims 15 and 16, respectively, are referring to the Part A impact modifier and Part A toughening agent, the Part A toughening agent and Part B toughening agent, or both Parts A and B impact modifiers and toughening agents. As to Claim 18: Claims 5 and 6, on which claim 18 depends from, do not provide any proper antecedent basis for “ said adhesion promoter”, and thus, it is not clear what it is referring to ( Emphasis added ). As to Claim 19: It is not clear whether “said toughening agent” recited in claim 19 is referring to the Part A toughening agent, the Part B toughening agent, or both. Clarification in the next response by applicants will be helpful to better ascertaining the scope of these claims. Accordingly, the scope of these claims is deemed indefinite. 07-36 AIA The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d): (d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers. The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph: Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers. 07-36-01 AIA 6. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 5, on which claim 9 ultimately depends from, recite a Part A methacrylate monomer. However, claim 9 recites said Part A monomer is independently at least one of (meth)acrylate monomer. However, the selection of (meth)acrylate monomer in clam 9 fails to further limit the Part A methacrylate monomer recited in claim 5, on which claim 9 ultimately depends from . Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 07-21-aia AIA 7. Claim s 5-7, 9-12, and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khongal et al. (US 2015/0376473) in view of OGAWA et al. (US 2012/0108734) . The claims are directed to a two-part adhesive formation comprising an adhesive Part A comprising a Part A methacrylate monomer, a high flash point (meth)acrylate monomer, a Part A impact modifier, and a Part B toughening agent; and an activator Part B comprising: a Part B impact modifier, a Part B toughening agent, a Part B monomer, a free-radical polymerization initiator, and a polymerization accelerator. According to paragraph [0031] of applicants’ published application, i.e., US PG PUB 2024/0279516, the claimed high flash point (meth)acrylate monomer that is reactive under cure condition, and has a flash point of at least 90° C., and in some embodiments at least 94° C. Examples of high flash point (meth)acrylate monomers operative herein also include benzyl methacrylate. As to Claims 5-7, 9-12 and 14-18: Khongal et al. disclose a two-part adhesive formulation comprising an adhesive Part A and an activator Part B (Paragraph [0010]), wherein the adhesive Part A comprises methacrylate monomers, an impact modifier and a toughening agent, and the activator Part B comprises methyl methacrylate monomer (corresponding to the claimed Part B monomer), an impact modifier, a toughening agent, a free radical polymerization initiator and a polymerization accelerator (Paragraphs [0007], [0010]-[0015], [0021]-[0022] and [0031]). Khongal et al. also disclose that monomers of Part A and Part B include both methyl methacrylate (Paragraphs [0012] and [0013]) as required by present claims 9-11. Khongal et al. further disclose that 2.5-25 weight percent of impact modifiers are present upon combination (mixture) of Part A and Part B (Paragraph [0015]), which overlaps with the claimed 10-30 weight percent of impact modifier, and 10-40 weight percent of toughening agent are present upon combination (mixture) of Part A and Part B (Paragraphs [0014] and [0015]), which overlaps with the claimed 8-25 weight percent of the toughening agent. Moreover, Khongal et al. disclose the addition of hydroxylated methacrylate monomer in Part A (Paragraph [0012]) as required by present claim 17. Additionally, Khongal et al. disclose the addition of an adhesion promoter in an amount of 0-2.5 weight percent (which overlaps with the claimed 0.5-5 weight percent of the adhesion promoter) upon combination (mixture) of Part A and Part B (Paragraph [0023]). While Khongal et al. broadly disclose the addition of methacrylate monomers to Part A in an amount of 35-65 weight percent upon combination (mixture) of Part A and Part B (Paragraphs [0013] and [0014]), they do not specify such monomers as including a high flash point (meth)acrylate monomer as required by claims 1 and 12 of the present application. They also do not specifically mention the addition of a methacrylate phosphate monomer as required by claims 6 and 7. Nevertheless, OGAWA et al. disclose the use of methacrylate monomers including benzyl methacrylate (which according to paragraph [0031] of applicants’ published application, i.e., US PG PUB 2024/0279516, corresponds to the claimed high flash point (meth)acrylate monomer having a flash point of 90°C) and phosphate group containing acrylic monomer such as bis-(methacryloxypropyl) phosphate (corresponding to the claimed methacrylate phosphate monomer) for the purposes of preparing an adhesive formulation having desired adhesive strength and improved workability (Paragraphs [0036], [0039], [0052], [0056], and [0212]). Given the above teachings, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the claimed amount of methacrylate monomers including benzyl methacrylate (high flash point (meth)acrylate monomer having a flash point of 90°C) and bis-(methacryloxypropyl) phosphate (methacrylate phosphate monomer) taught by OGAWA et al. in the adhesive formulation discussed in Khongal et al., with a reasonable expectation of successfully obtaining desired adhesive strength and improved workability. 8. On this record, it is noted there are no prior art rejections of present claims 8, 13, 19 at this time. Correspondence 9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HANNAH J PAK whose telephone number is (571)270-5456. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5 PM; M-F. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. 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. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /HANNAH J PAK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764 Application/Control Number: 18/441,283 Page 2 Art Unit: 1764 Application/Control Number: 18/441,283 Page 3 Art Unit: 1764 Application/Control Number: 18/441,283 Page 4 Art Unit: 1764 Application/Control Number: 18/441,283 Page 5 Art Unit: 1764
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