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 § 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 1-3 and 5-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verschuuren et al. (US 2018/0305567 A1) in view of Wielstra et al. (US 6,828,032 B2).
Claim 1: Verschuuren teaches a patterned layer 50 formed on a substrate 10 (Fig. 4), wherein an imprinting ink 30 is formed on the substrate 10 and cured while a stamp 20 is imprinted into the imprinting ink 30 so as to form the patterned layer 50 ([0078]-[0081]). Verschuuren teaches a polycondensation reaction is used to form the patterned layer 50 [0081]. The imprinting ink meets the claimed imprinting composition. Verschuuren does not teach the claimed layer of compound between the substrate 10 and patterned layer 50. However, Wielstra teaches use of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane as an adhesion promoter during a process of coating layers (col. 4, lines 56-58), wherein the “amino-” meets the claimed basic group and the “trimethoxy” meet the claimed condensable group. The adhesion promoter meets the claimed layer of compound. The process by which the patterned layer and the layer of compound are formed is not dispositive of the issue of the patentability of the instant article claim.
The “trimethoxy” in 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter meet the claimed condensable group. The process by which the layer of compound is formed is not dispositive of the issue of the patentability of the instant article claim. In addition, the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter of Wielstra is identical to the claimed compound, thus the chemical interaction of the adhesion promoter of Wielstra would be similar to the claimed compound. The “aminopropyl” of the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane is one moiety and the “trimethoxysilane” of the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane is another moiety.
Verschuuren and Wielstra are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor that is the coating process art. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter of Wielstra with the invention of Verschuuren, and the motivation for combining would be to enhance the bond between the substrate 10 and imprinting ink 30.
Claims 5-11 and 15: Verschuuren teaches a patterned layer 50 formed on a substrate 10 (Fig. 4), wherein an imprinting ink 30 is formed on the substrate 10 and cured while a stamp 20 is imprinted into the imprinting ink 30 so as to form the patterned layer 50 ([0078]-[0081]). Verschuuren teaches a polycondensation reaction is used to form the patterned layer 50 [0081]. The imprinting ink meets the claimed imprinting composition. Verschuuren does not teach the claimed layer of compound between the substrate 10 and patterned layer 50. However, Wielstra teaches use of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane {instant claim 10} as an adhesion promoter during a process of coating layers (col. 4, lines 56-58), wherein the “amino-” meets the claimed basic group {instant claim 7} and the “trimethoxy” meet the claimed condensable group. The adhesion promoter meets the claimed layer of compound.
The process by which the patterned layer and the layer of compound are formed is not dispositive of the issue of the patentability of the instant article claim.
With respect to instant claims 5 and 6: The process by which the layer of compound is formed is not dispositive of the issue of the patentability of the instant article claim. In addition, the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter of Wielstra is identical to the claimed compound, thus the chemical interaction of the adhesion promoter of Wielstra would be similar to the claimed compound.
With respect to instant claim 8: The “trimethoxy” in 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter meet the claimed condensable group. The process by which the layer of compound is formed is not dispositive of the issue of the patentability of the instant article claim. In addition, the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter of Wielstra is identical to the claimed compound, thus the chemical interaction of the adhesion promoter of Wielstra would be similar to the claimed compound.
With respect to instant claim 9: The 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter of Wielstra is identical to the claimed compound, thus the chemical interaction of the adhesion promoter of Wielstra would be similar to the claimed compound. The “aminopropyl” of the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane is one moiety and the “trimethoxysilane” of the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane is another moiety.
With respect to instant claim 11: With respect to the thickness of the adhesion promoter, the experimental modification of this prior art in order to ascertain optimum operating conditions fails to render applicants’ claims patentable in the absence of unexpected results. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to adjust the thickness of the adhesion promoter, and the motivation would be to control bond strength and durability. A prima facie case of obviousness may be rebutted, however, where the results of the optimizing variable, which is known to be result-effective, are unexpectedly good. In re Boesch and Slaney, 205 USPQ 215.
With respect to instant Claim 15: The “trimethoxy” groups of the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane are reactive surface groups. The 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter of Wielstra is identical to the claimed compound, thus the chemical interaction of the adhesion promoter of Wielstra would be similar to the claimed compound.
Verschuuren and Wielstra are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor that is the coating process art. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane adhesion promoter of Wielstra with the invention of Verschuuren, and the motivation for combining would be to enhance the bond between the substrate 10 and imprinting ink 30.
Claim 2: Verschuuren teaches the patterned layer comprises optical elements including lenses, light scattering elements, collimators, in-coupling elements, waveguides, photonic devices such as ring resonators, wavelength filters and amplitude modifiers [0077].
Claim 3: Verschuuren teaches the patterned layer 50 comprises a mask [0087].
Claim 12: Verschuuren teaches the composition of the imprinting ink 30 comprises at least a trialkoxysilane (Formula 12) and tetraalkoxysilane (Formula 13) in a molar ratio of 5:1 to 1:5 ([0059]-[0061]).
Claim 13: Verschuuren teaches at least in one embodiment the composition of the imprinting ink 30 has a pH value of above 1 [0024] which overlaps with the claimed pH value of 4-7.
Claim 14: The composition of the imprint ink 30 comprises transition metal oxide (TMO) nanoparticles ([0006], [0047] and [0081]).
Claim 16: Verschuuren teaches post curing the imprinted/cured imprinting ink 30 composition at a temperature of 80-120 ̊C ([0028] and claim 13).
Claim 17: A combination of Verschuuren and Wielstra teaches the claimed invention except for rearrangement of parts (i.e., having the substrate and the components of the layers in a kit before forming the layers onto the substrate),, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70. Having the substrate and the components of the layers, (i.e., the substrate, the imprint composition and the adhesion promoter) in a kit before forming the layers onto the substrate requires routine skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 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. Verschuuren teaches the substrate 10 comprises a silicone substrate [0078] which meets the claimed metalloid substrate; however, the reference of Verschuuren does not teach an oxide layer disposed on the silicon substrate/metalloid layer, wherein surface groups comprise hydroxyl groups included in a surface of the oxide layer as recited in claim 4.
Correspondence
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November 25, 2025
BS
/BETELHEM SHEWAREGED/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1785
Prosecution Insights