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 with respect to claims 1 and 2 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sakai et al., U.S. Patent # 10,774,062 as evidenced by Sakai et al., WO 2014/208632.
Applicant is directed to Table 16 of Sakai (US ‘062) and the subject matter in columns 107-108 where compounds (A), (E), and (F) are defined. It is noted that compound [4-1] is precisely the same photobase generator as that depicted in formula (3) at page 4 of the original Specification. This component is indicated as having been prepared by the approach outlined by Sakai (WO ‘632) according to column 108, lines 33-34. The partial keyword-in-context text attached to Sakai (WO ‘632) states that this compound efficiently generates a base when subject to light between 200 and 500 nm consistent with the requirement of amended claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The only coupling agents contemplated by Sakai (US ‘062) are silanes bearing either (meth)acryl- or mercapto-containing substituents. There would have been no reason to replace these with a silane featuring one of the types of group recited in claim 2 as they are not free radically-polymerizable and the Examiner did not encounter any other references comprising a photobase as presently defined and a silane, but to the exclusion of a polymer component.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARC S ZIMMER whose telephone number is (571)272-1096. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Heidi Kelley can be reached at 571-270-1831. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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September 23, 2026
/MARC S ZIMMER/Primary Patent Examiner of Art Unit 1765
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