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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 5-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sacripante et al. (US PGP 2014/0134534).
Sacripante teaches a toner comprising resin particles that composed substantially of biodegradable and recycled materials (Abstract). The recycled materials are taught to be comprise polyethylene terephthalate polymers ([0020]). The PET polymers are taught to comprise from 5 to 70% by weight of the polymers and the bio-based polymers are taught to be 25 to 90% by weight of the polymers ([0019]). Sacripante teaches that amounts outside of those ranges can also be used as design choice to achieve the desired sustainability content and therefore it is clear that Sacripante envisions an embodiment wherein the toner contains more recycled polymers than bio-based polymers ([0018-19]). The PET polymers are taught to be polyester polymers ([0022]). Additionally, Sacripante teaches that a shell may be formed on the resin/toner particles and that said shell may be a sulfonated polyester resin ([0032], [0103-106] and [0116]). The toner may further comprise a crystalline polyester ([0024], [0036-9]). The toner is further taught to comprise a colorant ([0050-57]) and a release agent ([0066-70]). The toner is additionally taught to comprise an external additive (surface additive, [0076-82]). The toners are further taught to be paired with carrier particles to form two component developer compositions ([0125-130]).
Sacripante further teaches a method of making the toner/resin particles that read on the Applciant’s method as recited in pending claim 13. Specifically, Sacripante teaches dissolving the recycled/bio-based resin in a solvent and then mixing the dissolved resins into an emulsion medium such as water, aggregating the resultant emulsion and then coalescing/fusing the aggregates ([0087-114]). The aggregated particles may have a resin shell formed thereover ([0103]). The coalesced particles are further taught to be annealed and the annealed particles washed with water and dried ([0108-114]). The PET polymers are further taught to be formed from PET oligomers having alcohol or carboxylic acid groups which react with a reactive hydrogen group ([0028], [0087]).
The toners and developers are additionally taught to be used in an image forming apparatus that performs and image forming method that reads on the Applicant’s limitations recited in claims 15-18 ([0131-138]). While Sacripante does not specifically teach the shell resin comprise the sulfonated polyester resins, Sacripante does teach that the sulfonated polyester resins are among resins suitable used for shell resins. As such, it would have been obvious to any person of ordinary skill in the art to have selected the sulfonated polyester resins taught by Sacripante for use as shell resins in the toner particles of Sacripante and to have used them as shell resins.
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sacripante et al. (US PGP 2014/0134534) in view of Yamashita et al. (US PGP 2023/0195005)
The complete discussion of Sacripante above is included herein. Sacripante does not teach a suitable solubility parameter for the shell resin.
Yamashita teaches a toner comprising resin particles having core particles and a resin shell ([0039-40]). The shell resin is taught to include resins comprising a sulfonic acid group and a solubility parameter of 9 to 13 (cal/cm3)1/2 ([0042], [0057-61] and [0094]). Yamashita teaches that a solubility parameter within this range is desirable in terms of ease of formation of the toner particles and that the SP value of the shell resin can be adjusted by changing monomer and monomer ratios through routine laboratory technique ([0094-95]). As such, it would have been obvious to any person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the instant application to have optimized the SP value of the shell resins of Sacripante to a value within the range taught by Yamashita for the shell resin of the resin particles in order to improve the ease of formation of the toner particles.
Claim(s) 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sacripante et al. (US PGP 2014/0134534) in view of WO 2010/041677 (henceforth WO ‘677).
Sacripante teaches that a sulfonic acid containing resin may be used as the shell resin but does not teach a suitable amount of sulfonic acid groups or a content range of said resin in the toner.
WO ‘677 teaches a toner comprising a core-shell configuration. The shell is taught to comprise a sulfonic acid resin whereby the sulfonic acid group has a content of 0.01 to 20.00% by mass relative to the mass of the sulfonic acid resin. Additionally, the sulfonic-acid based resin is preferably contained in an amount of 0.01 to 15.00 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the biner resin. These properties are taught to improve the low-temperature fixing performance and durability stability of the toner (see the section of the provided translation relating to the charge control agent, starting at [0067]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to any person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to have utilized the sulfonic-acid based resin taught by WO ‘677 as the shell resin in the toner of Sacripante in the amounts taught by WO ‘677 in order to improve the low-temperature fixing performance and stability of the toner.
Conclusion
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/PETER L VAJDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 07/22/2026
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