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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I, claims 16 – 25, in the reply filed on February 11, 2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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 16, 17, and 19 – 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP H05271630 A1 in view of Yamamoto et al. (USPGPub 2017/0260425 A1), Barker (GB 2 412 335), and Hartman et al. (USPN 5,476,712).
A machine-generated translation of JP H05271630 A1 accompanies this action. In reciting this rejection, the examiner will cite this translation.
JP H05271630 A1 disclose a double-sided adhesive flexographic printing plate underlay for use in the manufacture and mounting of flexographic printing plates (Figures; Abstract), the underlay comprising polyethylene terephthalate (PET) carrier sheet coated (Page 3, line 42; Figure 1, #1) on a front side and a back side thereof with an adhesive (Figure 1, #2 and 3); wherein the adhesive is stripe-coated such that each adhesive stripe is separated from its neighbors (Figure 1, #2 and 3; Page 3, line 46; Page 4, line 5) and a release liner adhered to the front side of the carrier sheet by way of the solvent acrylic adhesive stripe-coating (Figure 1, #3 and 4; Page 3, line 45 to Page 4, line 17) as in claim 16. JP H05271630 A1 further disclose a flexographic printing plate, comprising the underlay of claim 16 adhered to a rear face of the flexographic printing plate (Figures; Abstract). However, JP H05271630 A1 fail to disclose a glass clear polyethylene terephthalate, a transparent solvent acrylic adhesive, on a front side and a back side thereof with a solvent acrylic adhesive wherein the adhesive is stripe-coated such that each adhesive stripe is separated from its neighbors by a 0.9-1.1mm gap of non-coated carrier sheet, glass clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET) release liner, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) release liner adhered to the front side of the carrier sheet by way of the solvent acrylic adhesive stripe-coating, the release liner being siliconized on both sides thereof, each adhesive stripe has a width of 2.5mm to 3.5mm, the gaps on the front side of the carrier sheet are laterally offset from the gaps on the back side of the carrier sheet, there is no overlap between the gaps on the front side of the carrier sheet and the gaps on the back side of the carrier sheet, the carrier sheet is 0.125mm thick, the release liner is 0.036mm thick, the underlay is stored in a rolled up form, and the level of siliconization applied to a first side of the release liner is different than the level of siliconization applied to a second side of the release liner, such that when the underlay is either rolled or unrolled, the release liner adheres more strongly to the adhesive stripe-coating on the front side of the carrier sheet than it does to the adhesive stripe-coating on the back side of the carrier sheet.
Yamamoto et al. teach a double-sided adhesive (Figure 8, #10, 21 and 22) having a glass clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET) carrier sheet (Paragraph 0052; Paragraph 0059 and 0092, wherein the whole sheet has transparency) coated on a front side and a back side thereof with a transparent solvent acrylic adhesive (paragraphs 0100 – 0108; Paragraph 0059, wherein the whole sheet has transparency), a glass clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET) release liner adhered to the front side of the carrier sheet by way of the solvent acrylic adhesive coating (Paragraph 0125; Paragraph 0059, wherein the whole sheet has transparency), and the release liner being siliconized (Paragraph 0125) for the purpose of making air bubbles visible through the double-sided adhesive (Paragraph 0059).
Barker teach an adhesive flexographic printing plate underlay for use in the manufacture and mounting of flexographic printing plates (Figures; Abstract) having a solvent acrylic adhesive wherein the adhesive is stripe-coated such that each adhesive stripe is separated from its neighbors by a gap of non-coated carrier sheet (Page 2, line 25 to Page 3, line 4), a release liner adhered to the front side of the carrier sheet by way of the solvent acrylic adhesive stripe-coating (Figures, #3; Page 2, line 25 to Page 3, line 12), each adhesive stripe has a width of 2.5mm to 3.5mm (Page 7, lines 8 – 16), the carrier sheet is 0.125mm thick (Page 5, lines 31 – 33), the release liner is 0.036mm thick (Page 7, lines 21 – 24), and the underlay is stored in a rolled up form (Page 3, lines 13 – 15) for the purpose of forming air channels in the adhesive layer (Page 2, line 32 to Page 3, line 4).
Hartman et al. teach a double-sided adhesive flexographic printing plate underlay for use in the manufacture and mounting of flexographic printing plates (Figures; Abstract), the release liner being siliconized on both sides thereof (Column 8, lines 1 – 9), and the level of siliconization applied to a first side of the release liner is different than the level of siliconization applied to a second side of the release liner, such that when the underlay is either rolled or unrolled, the release liner adheres more strongly to the adhesive stripe-coating on the front side of the carrier sheet than it does to the adhesive stripe-coating on the back side of the carrier sheet (Column 8, lines 1 – 9) for the purpose of separating the rolled adhesive layers (Column 8, lines 1 – 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have glass clear polyethylene terephthalate carrier and release liners, a solvent acrylic adhesive stripe-coating, and a release liner siliconized on both sides in JP H05271630 A1 in order to make air bubbles visible through the double-sided adhesive as taught by Yamamoto et al., to form air channels in the adhesive layer as taught by Barker, and to separate the rolled adhesive layers as taught by Hartman et al.
With regard to the limitation of “each adhesive stripe is separated from its neighbors by a 0.9-1.1mm gap of non-coated carrier sheet, the gaps on the front side of the carrier sheet are laterally offset from the gaps on the back side of the carrier sheet, and there is no overlap between the gaps on the front side of the carrier sheet and the gaps on the back side of the carrier sheet”, Barker clearly teaches that the adhesive strips may take a variety of arrangements (Page 2, line 25 to Page 3, line 4; Figure 2; Page 7, lines 8 – 16). It is well settled that a particular shape of a prior invention carries no patentable weight unless the applicant can demonstrate that the new shape provides significant unforeseen improvements to the invention. In the instant case, the application does not indicate any new, significant attributes of the invention due to the shape of the adhesive layers which would have been unforeseen to one of ordinary skill in the art. A change in size or shape is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art, absent unexpected results. MPEP 2144.04 (I) and (IV).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP H05271630 A1 in view of Yamamoto et al. (USPGPub 2017/0260425 A1), Barker (GB 2 412 335), and Hartman et al. (USPN 5,476,712) as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Scappini et al. (EP 1 074 593 A2).
JP H05271630 A1, as modified with Yamamoto et al., Barker, and Hartman et al., disclose the claimed invention of a double-sided adhesive flexographic printing plate underlay for use in the manufacture and mounting of flexographic printing plates except for the adhesive coating on the front side and the back side of the carrier sheet has a coat weight of 65-70g/m2.
Scappini et al. teach an acrylic adhesive coating having a coat weight of 5 to 50 g/m2 (Paragraph 0020), wherein the adhesive is aqueous emulsion (Paragraph 0019) before drying, thereby having a solvent adhesive coating of 65-70g/m2 due to the additional liquid for the purpose of having an adhesive removable nature that does leave residue (Paragraph 0021).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a solvent adhesive coating of 65-70g/m2 in the modified JP H05271630 A1 in order to have an adhesive removable nature that does leave residue as taught by Scappini et al.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Patricia L Nordmeyer whose telephone number is (571)272-1496. The examiner can normally be reached 10am - 6:30pm EST, Monday - Friday.
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/Patricia L. Nordmeyer/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1788
/pln/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788 March 18, 2026