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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the remarks, filed on November 24th 2025, with respect to the rejection of independent claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) have been fully considered and are persuasive in light of the amendments. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Fukuda et al. (JP 2002-348786).
Information Disclosure Statement
3. Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS have been considered.
Priority
4. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Election/Restrictions
5. Claims 14 and 17 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected-inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 08/06/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
7. 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 of this title, 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.
8. Claims 1, 5-10, 12, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being unpatentable over Idei et al. (JP 07-089222), in view of Fukuda et al. (JP 2002-348786).
9. Regarding independent claim 1: Idei et al. disclosed a pretreatment agent ([0015], line 1 and [0031], lines 1-2; the ink receiving layer consist of a pretreatment agent coated on a surface of the substrate) for inkjet textile printing ([0019], lines 1-4) comprising: an N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer ([0041], lines 1-4) and an antifoaming agent ([0029], lines 1-2).
Idei et al. are silent about wherein a cationic degree of the N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer is at least 5.0 meq/g.
Fukuda et al. disclosed a pretreatment agent ([0019], lines 1-2; [0025], lines 7-10 and [0035], lines 1-2), for inkjet textile printing ([0018], line 1), comprising N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer ([0023], lines 1-4 and [0020], line 2) and an antifoaming agent ([0025], line 6), wherein a cationic degree of the N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer is at least 5.0 meq/g ([0041], lines 5-9. The specification of the instant application disclosed in paragraph [0040], PVAM0595B (manufactured by Daicel Chemical Industries, Ltd.) as an example of the N-vinylformamide based cationic polymer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Fukuda et al. with those of Idei et al. by using commercially available N-vinylformamide based cationic polymer in the pretreatment agent, in order to reduce production costs.
10. Regarding claims 5-7: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 1, further comprising a color deepening agent, wherein the color deepening agent has compatibility with the N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer, and wherein the color deepening agent contains one or more types selected from the group consisting of N-alkylolamide and glycol ethers (Idei et al. [0034], lines 1-14. The color deepening effect of the glycol ethers is an intrinsic characteristic of glycol ethers regardless of whether the glycol ethers are included in the pretreatment agent or in the ink composition).
11. Regarding claim 8: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 1, further comprising a pasting agent (Idei et al. [0028], line 1 and [0029], line 1; the thickener).
12. Regarding claims 9 - 10: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 8, wherein the pasting agent includes a pasting agent having compatibility with the N-vinylformanide-based cationic polymer and being nonionic or anionic (Idei et al. methyl cellulose as disclosed in the specifications of the application), wherein the pasting agent contains one or more types selected from the group consisting of methyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, and guar gum (Idei et al. [0028], lines 1-3).
13. Regarding claim 12: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 1, wherein the N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer contains one or more types selected from the group consisting of polyamidine and polyvinylamine (Idei et al. [0015], lines 2-3).
14. Regarding claim 15: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed an inkjet textile printing method (Idei et al. [0001], lines 6-7 and [0019], lines 1-4) comprising pretreating a textile with the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 1 (see the rejection of Claim 1) and performing inkjet printing on a pretreated area of the pretreated textile without drying the pretreated textile (Idei et al. [0035], lines 1-3 and [0015], line 1; printing is performed on the substrate coated with the ink receiving layer (pretreatment agent)).
15. Regarding claim 16: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the inkjet textile printing method according to Claim 15, wherein ink used in the inkjet printing is a disperse dye (Idei et al. [0033], lines 1-4 and [0027], lines 1-3).
16. Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Idei et al. (JP 07-089222), in view of Fukuda et al. (JP 2002-348786) as applied to claims 1, 5-10, 12, 15 and 16 above, and further in view of Kung et al. (US Pub. Nº 2017/0313115).
17. Regarding claims 2 and 3: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 1.
The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. is silent about wherein a content ratio (mass ratio) of the antifoaming agent to the N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer in the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing is 2.0 or more and 4.0 or less.
Kung et al. disclosed a pretreatment agent for forming an ink receiving layer ([0006], lines 1-2) in textile printing ([0102], line 7), comprising a polymer ([0006], line 3; the water-dispersible polymeric material) and an antifoaming agent ([0006], line 4), wherein a ratio (mass ratio) of the antifoaming agent to the polymer in the pretreatment agent is 2.0 or more and 4.0 or less ([0008], lines 1-4; for a content of antifoaming agent of 0.01% to 9.0% and a content of polymer of 0.35% to 1.25%).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kung et al. with those of the combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. by adding an appropriate amount of antifoaming agent to the pretreatment agent in order to prevent coating defects, compositional fluctuation and messy overflow as disclosed by Kung et al. in paragraph [0090].
18. Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Idei et al. (JP 07-089222), in view of Fukuda et al. (JP 2002-348786) as applied to claims 1, 5-10, 12, 15 and 16 above, and further in view of Asakawa et al. (JP 2019-142068).
19. Regarding claim 4: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 1.
The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. is silent about wherein the antifoaming agent contains one or more types selected from the group consisting of an alcohol-based antifoaming agent and a fatty acid derivative-based antifoaming agent.
Asakawa et al. disclosed an aggregating liquid as a pretreatment agent for use in inkjet printing ([0002], lines 13-15) on textile ([0041], lines 1-2), comprising a cationic polymer ([0053], lines 3-4) and an antifoaming agent ([0049], lines 1-3), wherein the antifoaming agent contains one or more types selected from the group consisting of an alcohol-based antifoaming agent and a fatty acid derivative-based antifoaming agent ([0035], lines 1-2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Asakawa et al. with those of the combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. by using commercially available antifoaming agents in order to reduce production costs.
20. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Idei et al. (JP 07-089222), in view of Fukuda et al. (JP 2002-348786) as applied to claims 1, 5-10, 12, 15 and 16 above, and further in view of Ono (CN 105308150).
21. Regarding claim 11: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 8.
The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. is silent about wherein the pasting agent further contains montmorillonite.
Ono disclosed the use of montmorillonite based pasting agent (Page 16, lines 33-36) for use in a treatment liquid for use with an ink composition (Page 16, lines 27-28).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ono with those of the combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. by using a pasting agent known in the art in order to reduce production costs of the pretreatment agent.
22. Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Idei et al. (JP 07-089222), in view of Fukuda et al. (JP 2002-348786) as applied to claims 1, 5-10, 12, 15 and 16 above, and further in view of Fujii et al. (2020/0216703).
23. Regarding claim 13: The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing according to Claim 1.
The combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al. disclosed that the pretreatment agent comprises N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer (Idei et al. [0015], lines 2-3), but is silent about wherein a content of N-vinylformamide-based cationic polymer is 0.6% by mass or more and 1.4% by mass or less with respect to 100% by mass of a total mass of the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing.
Fujii et al. disclosed a pretreatment agent ([0105], lines 1-2) for inkjet printing ([0008], line 3), comprising a polymer ([0132], line 1) and an antifoaming agent ([0175], line 1), wherein a content of the polymer is 0.6% by mass or more and 1.4% by mass or less with respect to 100% by mass of a total mass of the pretreatment agent for inkjet textile printing ([0159], lines 1-2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Fujii et al. with those of the combination of Idei et al. and Fukuda et al.by adding the appropriate amount of N- vinylformamide-based cationic polymer to the pretreatment agent in order to achieve the desired reaction between the ink and the pretreatment agent.
Conclusion
24. 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).
25. 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.
26. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOVI M. AMEH whose telephone number is (571)272-4578. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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28. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RICARDO MAGALLANES can be reached at (571)272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YAOVI M AMEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853