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 § 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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-11, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0080818 A1 to Beisele et al. as cited in the Applicant’s IDS file dated 11/28/2023, (hereinafter Beisele) and in further view of US 5,037,898 A to Dangayach et al. (hereinafter Dangayash).
Regarding claims 1-5, 7-11, Beisele teaches a thermally curable epoxy resin composition comprising and epoxy resin, a thermal curing initiator, and a co-initiator (See abstract), wherein the epoxy resin composition contains 99.62 wt% of bis(epoxycyclohexyl)methcarboxylate (CY179), 0.16 wt% of N-benzylququinolinium hexafluoroantimonate C16H14[N+](SbF6-) and 0.22 wt% of benzopinacole (See Table 1, para 112) and further teaches the composition may auxiliary agents (para 55).
Beisele does not explicitly teach the block copolymer toughener of claims 1 and 4.
However, Dangayach teaches a polysiloxane-modified epoxy-based composition comprising an epoxy resin, a polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer, curing agent and filler, (See abstract and col 2, ln 15-25) which is the same field of the Applicant’s invention of thermally curable epoxy resin compositions. Dangayach teaches the polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer is an ABA block copolymer (col 2, ln 29-51), and specifically uses SMA-423, a linear polycaprolactone-polysiloxane-polycaprolactone block copolymer, (col 7, ln 27-34). Dangayach further teaches the polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer is used in an amount of 1-50 wt% of the composition (col 4, ln 51-60 and specifically in amounts of 5 wt% of the composition (See Table 2 and 5-7), which meets the claimed wt% range and ABA toughener of claims 1 and 4. Dangayach further teaches the polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer improves/imparts toughness, lowers modulus and has better processability (col 4, ln 60 to col 5, ln 2 and Examples).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to further include the amount of polycaprolactone-polysiloxane-polycaprolactone block copolymer of Dangayach in the epoxy composition of Beisele because Dangayach teaches the same field of the Applicant’s invention of thermally curable epoxy resin compositions and Dangayach further teaches the polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer improves/imparts toughness, lowers modulus and has better processability (col 4, ln 60 to col 5, ln 2 and Examples).
Claim(s) 1-11, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2021/148602 A1 in which US 2023/0078469 A1 to Schnoll et al. is used as the US English equivalent, (hereinafter Schnoll), and in further view of US 5,037,898 A to Dangayach et al. (hereinafter Dangayash).
Regarding claims 1-11, Schnoll teaches a polymerizable composition comprising and a thermal cationic initiator, or a combination of cationic photoinitiator and thermal free-radical initiator (See abstract), and a cationically polymerizable monomer such as epoxides (para 64). Specifically, the composition contains epoxy novolac resin and bisphenol A diglycidyl ether in a total epoxy amount of 96 wt% of the composition (Example 1), wherein the cationic photoinitiator is (4-isopropylphenyl)(4’-methylphenyl)iodinium tetrakis(pentafluorophenyul borate and the thermal free-radical initiator is benzopinacol (See examples), wherein the composition is cured by heat and irradiation (para 75-77), which meets the claimed epoxy, catalyst and co-catalyst of claim 1-11. Schnoll further teaches the of cationic photoinitiator and thermal free-radical initiator are used in an amount of 0.5-12 wt%, preferably 1-6 wt% of the composition (para 37), in a 1:1 ratio (See Examples 1-3 and para 38), meaning if there is 0.5-3 wt% total of both in a 1:1 ratio, this correlates to 0.25-1.5 wt% range for both, which meets the claimed range. Schnoll also teaches additives such as impact strength modifiers may be added. (para 40).
Schnoll does not explicitly teach the block copolymer toughener of claims 1 and 4.
However, Dangayach teaches a polysiloxane-modified epoxy-based composition comprising an epoxy resin, a polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer, curing agent and filler, (See abstract and col 2, ln 15-25) which is the same field of the Applicant’s invention of thermally curable epoxy resin compositions. Dangayach teaches the polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer is an ABA block copolymer (col 2, ln 29-51), and specifically uses SMA-423, a linear polycaprolactone-polysiloxane-polycaprolactone block copolymer, (col 7, ln 27-34). Dangayach further teaches the polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer is used in an amount of 1-50 wt% of the composition (col 4, ln 51-60 and specifically in amounts of 5 wt% of the composition (See Table 2 and 5-7), which meets the claimed wt% range and ABA toughener of claims 1 and 4. Dangayach further teaches the polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer improves/imparts toughness, lowers modulus and has better processability (col 4, ln 60 to col 5, ln 2 and Examples).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to further include the amount of polycaprolactone-polysiloxane-polycaprolactone block copolymer of Dangayach in the composition of Schnoll because Dangayach teaches the same field of the Applicant’s invention of thermally curable epoxy resin compositions and Dangayach further teaches the polylactone-polysiloxane block copolymer improves/imparts toughness, lowers modulus and has better processability (col 4, ln 60 to col 5, ln 2 and Examples).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HA S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7395. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, Flex schedule 7:30am-4:00pm.
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/HA S NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
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