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 Amendment
The amendment filed on 7/15/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by USPAP 2018/0288882 to Shibata or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over USPAP 2018/0288882 to Shibata in view of JP 2016079373 to Fuji, WO2018163900 to Yamatsu, and/or JP2017057271 to Ishida.
Claim 1, Shibata discloses a resin composition, comprising: an elastomer; a (meth)acrylic compound; and a thermal polymerization initiator, wherein a content of the elastomer is 50% by mass or more on the basis of a total mass of the resin composition (see entire document including [0049]-[0073]).
In the event that it is shown that the Shibata does not disclose the claimed embodiment with sufficient specificity, the invention is obvious further in view of Fuji, Yamatsu and/or Ishida. For example, Fuji discloses a resin composition, comprising: an elastomer; a (meth)acrylic compound; and a thermal polymerization initiator (see entire translation document including [0013], [0016]-[0020] and [0026]-[0028]), Yamatsu discloses a resin composition, comprising: an elastomer; a (meth)acrylic compound; and a thermal polymerization initiator (see entire translation document including the abstract, [0045] and [0054]-[0110]), and Ishida discloses a resin composition, comprising: an elastomer; a (meth)acrylic compound; and a thermal polymerization initiator (see entire translation document including the abstract, [0015]-[0046]).
Claim 2, the (meth)acrylic compound may include alkanediol di(meth)acrylate ([0063] and the Examples).
Claim 3, the (meth)acrylic compound includes a compound represented by the claimed formula ([0063] and the Examples).
Claim 4, the thermal polymerization initiator may include a peroxide [0068].
Claim 5, Fuji discloses that the peroxide may be a dialkyl peroxide [0068].
Claim 6, the elastomer may include a styrene-based elastomer ([0050]-[0057]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/15/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
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 ANDREW T PIZIALI whose telephone number is (571)272-1541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marla McConnell can be reached at 571-270-7692. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW T PIZIALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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