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
All outstanding rejections, except for those maintained below, are withdrawn in light of applicant’s amendment filed on 4/20/2026.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior office action.
The new grounds of rejection set forth below are necessitated by applicant’s amendment filed on 4/20/2026. In particular, claim 1 has been amended to include a dicyandiamide crosslinker in the first component. Thus, the following action is properly made final.
Claim Interpretation
It is noted that the “catalyst” is defined by Applicant in paragraph 0117 of the specification as originally filed includes both accelerator and/or hardener. It is the examiner’s position that “hardener” also includes curing agent.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim1 and 3-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Asami (US 2006/0173127).
With respect to claims 1 and 12, Asami discloses a matte powder coating composition comprising powder (A) comprising a resin, a curing agent, and a colorant and a powder (B) comprising a resin and a curing agent but not colorant (abstract). Asami teaches that the resin is not particularly limited but includes a functional group such an epoxy group that is reactive with a curing agent (paragraph 0015) and teaches that a curing agent for epoxy groups includes a compound containing an amino group (paragraph 0022) such as dicyandiamide (paragraph 0028). Exemplified powders (B4-B9) include a polyester resin and an acrylic resin containing a carboxyl group and dodecanedicarboxylic acid (Table 1), i.e., matting agent comprising acid groups (paragraph 0048), reads on claimed second component. In the examples, the relative amount of curing agent and catalyst in all powder coatings A1A3 and B1-B9 including more than 3 wt % of claimed “catalyst.”
Asami fails to disclose a single embodiment where powder (A) includes dicyandiamide and component (B) contains a matting agent comprising acid groups.
Even so, Asami teaches using a dicyandiamide curative with epoxy resins and prefers the addition of a matting agent comprising acid groups such as an acrylic polymer.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the claimed combination of powder with one containing dicyandiamide and the other a matting agent comprising acid groups—absent evidence of unexpected or surprising results.
With respect to claim 3, Asami discloses that that epoxy resin can be known types that are liquid before curing (paragraph 0018).
With respect to claims 4-6, Asami teaches that the powder (B) is included in an amount of 30 wt % or less (paragraph 0069) which leaves powder (A) to be in an amount of at least 30 wt %.
With respect to claim 7, Asami teaches utilizing a suitable additive such as a pinhole preventive (paragraph 0062), i.e., a degassing agent (paragraph 0062).
With respect to claim 8, while silent on the softening temperature of the matting agent related to the film forming resins,
Even so, the matte surface is provided by solid matting agent. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize a matting agent to have a higher softening temperature in order to provide the matte finish.
With respect to claim 9, Asami teaches that the effects of the invention include lowered stoving (curing) temperature and shortened stoving time (paragraph 0041) and that the temperature and length of cure depends on the different kinds of resins and curing agents used (paragraph 0079). For example, the stoving temperature is preferably 140-240°C (paragraph 0079) but can also be adjusted lower as also suggested by Asami.
With respect to claim 10, Asami teaches that the matte coating film obtained from the powder coating composition has a 60° specular gloss of 20-70 (paragraph 0011).
With respect to claim 11, exemplified coating B4 (Table 1) includes 3.9 wt % acrylic resin containing carboxyl group and 0.4 wt % dodecanedicarboxylic acid, which provides for 4.3 wt % of matting agent based on carboxylic acid. None of the powder (A) includes acrylic resin or dodecanedicarboxylic acid.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection set forth above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure CN 110819216 discloses a low temperature curing coating powder comprising dicyandiamide.
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 VICKEY NERANGIS whose telephone number is (571)272-2701. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 am - 5:00 pm EST, Monday - Friday.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Del Sole can be reached at (571)272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VICKEY NERANGIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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