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 Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 2, 5, 6, 7, 13, 16, and 17 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.
With regards to claims 2, 5, 13, and 16, the claim states the molecular weight of the urethan oligomer, however, does not specify if the molecular weight is weight average or number average, thus, rendering the claim indefinite.
With regards to claims 6 and 17, the claim states that the semi-crystalline polymer includes “poly(DPAA)”. However, DPAA is not defined in the specification or the claim, thus, rendering the claim indefinite.
With regards to claim 7, the claim states that “the monomers” include a list of compounds, however, claim 1, from which it depends, states the composition includes “a monomer”.
Further, with regards to claim 7, there is no comma between tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate and exo-1,7,7-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-yl acrylate. It is, therefore, unclear as to whether these are two separate options reading on the monomer or if they are meant to be a combination of monomers together, in which case another “and” should be added after 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate.
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 1-7, 9-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung et al (KR 1020210034717) in view of Hasegawa et al (JP 2023041906) and further in view of Ward et al (WO 02/053509).
With regards to claims 1, 3-6, 11, and 14-17, Chung teaches an inkjet composition (title) for a display device (page 1) and that contains 1-20% of an oligomer, 80-99% of an acrylate monomer, 0.1 to 5 parts of a silane coupling agent (reading on an additive), and 0.5 to 10 parts of a photoinitiator per 100 parts of the polymerizable composition (page 2) wherein the oligomer is a urethane acrylate (page 2). Chung teaches the display device to include a display panel (page 1) and a touch screen or tempered glass screen (page 1) with the above composition used to fill and adhere the two substrates together (page 1).
Chung does not teach the addition of a crosslinking agent.
Hasegawa teaches a composition that contains alkyl (meth)acrylate monomers (0021) a urethane compound (0046), curing accelerators (0035), and crosslinking agents (0030). Hasegawa teaches the amount of crosslinking agent to be from 0.01-5 parts (0030) and teaches the motivation for using a crosslinking agent to be because it allows for the adjusting of physical property values and other properties of the composition (0030). Hasegawa and Chung are analogous in the art of curable compositions. In light of the benefit above, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art prior to the effective filing date of the present invention to add the crosslinking agent of Hasegawa to the composition of Chung, thereby obtaining the present invention.
Chung does not teach the urethane oligomer to include a semi-crystalline polymer.
Ward teaches a radiation curable composition (title) that contains a urethane oligomer (abstract) that is formed from a semi-crystalline polyol (abstract), a reactive monomer (page 8), and a photoinitiator (page 9). Ward teaches the semi-crystalline polyol to include polycarbonates (page 6) and be present in an amount of 36.65% of the oligomer (page 13 table 1). Ward teaches the urethane oligomer to further include non-crystalline polymer including polycarprolactone (pages 6-7) that has a molecular weight of 1000-5000 (page 7) or a polyethylene oxide polymer (page 12). Ward teaches the motivation for using the semi-crystalline urethane to be because the composition is more versatile because it has a low freezing temperature and/or low melting temperature and can be handled more efficiently (page 3). Ward and Chung are analogous in the art of curable urethane compositions. In light of the benefit above, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art prior to the effective filing date of the present invention to use the urethane of Ward in the composition of Chung, thereby obtaining the present invention.
With regards to claims 2 and 13, Chung teaches the molecular weight of 5,000-100,000 (page 2).
With regards to claims 7 and 18, Chung teaches the monomer to include 4-hydroxybutylacrylate (page 2).
With regards to claim 9, Chung teaches the addition of two photoinitiators including TPO (reading on a long wavelength initiator having an absorption of 380-400) and MBF (methylbenzoyl phosphate (reading on a short wavelength initiator)) (page 4).
With regards to claims 10 and 20, Chung teaches the viscosity of the composition to be from 6 to 29.2 CPS (page 4).
With regards to claim 12, Chung teaches the adhesive to have curvature at the edges (page 2).
Claims 8 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung et al (KR 1020210034717) in view of Hasegawa et al (JP 2023041906) and further in view of Ward et al (WO 02/053509) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Higashi et al (WO 2023017835).
The disclosure of Chung in view of Hasegawa and Ward is adequately set forth in paragraph 5 above and is herein incorporated by reference.
With regards to claims 8 and 19, Chung teaches the addition of a silane coupling agent (page 2) and an adhesive agent (page 4).
Chung does not teach the addition of an anti-yellowing agent.
Higashi teaches a composition (title) that contains a urethane compound (0003), a photopolymerization initiator (0079), and an anti-yellowing agent (0083). Higashi teaches the motivation for adding the anti-yellowing agent to be because it suppresses coloration during the baking (curing) process (0083). In light of the benefit above, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art prior to the effective filing date of the present invention to add the anti-yellowing agent of Higashi to the composition of Chung, thereby obtaining the present invention.
Conclusion
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/JESSICA WHITELEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
