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
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 of this title, 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 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakata (JP 2013-212482, machine translation provided by examiner on 892) in view of evidence provided by Nagano (US 2004/0039097) and further in view of Shinke (US 2018/0291213) and Sakai (US 2022/0355338).
With respect to claims 1, 3, 10, and 11, Nakata discloses a method of simultaneously baking and curing a multilayered coating film obtained by sequentially applying an aqueous first color paint (X) (reads on claimed colored coating composition a), an aqueous second coloring paint (Y) (reads on claimed luster coating composition b), and a clear paint (Z) (reads on claimed clearing coating composition c) (abstract)—wherein the three paints read on claimed composition “set” because they are brought together when in use. Nakata teaches that (X) is formed from an aqueous film-forming resin (A) which comprises a hydroxyl group-containing acrylic resin (A1) (reads on claimed a12) and a hydroxy group-containing polyester resin (A2) (reads on claimed a11) in a mass ratio of 10:90 to 90:10 (paragraph 0026-0030); a hardener (B) (reads on claimed curing agent) (paragraph 0077), and a coloring pigment (paragraph 0162). The hydroxyl group-containing acrylic resin (A1) has preferred weight average molecular weight of 100,000-2,000,000 (paragraph 0058), and the hydroxyl group-containing polyester has number average molecular weight of preferably 1,200-10,000 (which overlaps with claimed 3000 or less) (paragraph 0075). An exemplified aqueous second coloring paint (Y) is a luminous composition comprising aluminum pigment GX-180A (paragraph 0356), a phosphate group containing resin solution, and aqueous solvent (paragraph 0356-0357 and 0360). Nakata teaches that the aluminum pigments include leafing and/or non-leafing aluminum (paragraph 0166). Nakata’s exemplified luminous composition includes aluminum pigment paste GX-180A which is an aluminum flake (i.e., scaly) pigment as evidenced by Nagano (paragraph 0028). Clear paint (Z) is preferably a two-component coating comprising a hydroxyl group-containing acrylic resin and an organometallic catalyst which is kept separate from a polyisocyanate compound (paragraph 0313).
Nakata fails to expressly disclose that the luster coating (i) includes a cellulose ester and cellulose nanofiber or (ii) has a solids content of 0.1-12 mass %.
With respect to (i), Shinke discloses a vapor deposited aluminum pigment (scaly pigment) in a metallic coating composition (abstract) for a multilayered film (paragraph 0093) and teaches adding cellulose ester resins such as cellulose acetate butyrate improve composition stability as well as finished appearance, adhesion, and weatherability of the obtained coating film (paragraphs 0060-0064).
Sakai discloses a multilayer coating film having an effect pigment dispersion forming an effect coating film comprising flake pigment (abstract) that comprises cellulose nanofibers in order to obtain excellent metallic luster (paragraph 0266) because they serve as rheology control agents (paragraph 0277).
Given that Nakata, Shinke, and Sakai are all drawn to luster coating compositions for use in a multilayer film and further given that Shinke teaches adding cellulose ester to improve stability and appearance and Sakai teaches cellulose nanofibers to control rheology and improve metallic luster, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize cellulose esters and cellulose nanofibers in the luster coating composition taught by Nakata. Case law holds that the selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use supports prima facie obviousness. Sinclair & Carroll Co vs. Interchemical Corp., 325 US 327, 65 USPQ 297 (1045).
With respect to (ii), Nakata exemplifies a luster coating composition having solids content of 25 wt % (paragraph 0360) but fails to disclose a solids content of 0.1-12 wt %.
Shinke teaches that a solids content of the metallic coating compositions (reads on claimed luster coating composition) is preferably 0.1-2 mass % in order to excellent finished appearance and specular gloss (paragraph 0086). Sakai also discloses an effect pigment dispersion (abstract) and teaches that a preferred solids content to obtain excellent metallic luster is 0.1-10 mass % (paragraph 0290).
Given that Nakata, Shinke, and Sakai are drawn to luster coating composition used in a multilayer film and further given that Shinke and Sakai teach that lower solids contents provide for improved appearance and gloss, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize a lower solids content than exemplified by Nakata and utilize a luster coating composition having a solid content within the claimed range 0.1-12 mass %.
With respect to claim 2, Nakata teaches that the resin particles have an average size of 10-500 nm (paragraph 153) which overlaps with claimed range at least 150 nm.
With respect to claim 4, the phosphate-containing of Nakata’s example has an acid value of 83 mg KOH/g (paragraph 0357).
With respect to claim 5, Shinke discloses that the cellulose acetate butyrate used is “partially” acetylated (paragraph 0061) which suggests an acid value of at least 20 mg KOH/g given that non-esterified cellulose has an acid group.
With respect to claims 6 and 7, the exemplified water-based second colored paint (Y) containing luminous pigment (i.e., scaly pigment) (paragraph 0360) comprising, based on solids, 100 parts by weight resin and 18 parts by weight pigment dispersion. The pigment dispersion contains, based on solids, 77 wt % aluminum flake and 22 wt % phosphoric acid-containing compound. Therefore, the total amount of scaly aluminum pigment is about 11 wt % and the amount of phosphoric acid-containing compound is about 3 wt %.
With respect to claim 8, Nakata teaches adding surface modifiers to the second colored paint (Y), i.e., luster coating composition (paragraph 0205).
With respect to claim 9, Nakata teaches that an alkyl phosphoric acid is used as an emulsifier (paragraph 0143).
Conclusion
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/Vickey Nerangis/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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