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
In response to the Amendment received on 09/29/2025 and 12/08/2025, the examiner has carefully considered the amendments. The examiner acknowledges the cancellation of claims 1-2, 6, 8, and 58-62. The claim rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112, 2nd paragraph for claims 58-59 have been overcome by the amendment and has hereby been withdrawn for consideration.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 09/29/2025 and 12/08/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant has amended the claims to require the tertiary amine chain transfer agent includes at least one of an aliphatic amine, aromatic amine and/or reactive amine, and wherein the tertiary amine includes at least one of triethyl amine, N, N’-dimethylaniline and/or N, N’-dimethylacrylamide. However, the claims is not limited to the chain transfer agent being selected from the amended subject matter. The chain transfer agent may additionally be at least one of a thiol or secondary alcohol. It is deemed Nakatani sets forth a thiol chain transfer agent, as well as, all the other components required in claim 24; therefore, claim 24 will be rejected over Nakatani. Please see below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Nakatani et al (8,921,446).
Nakatani sets forth photocurable materials for sealing. Said sealing material comprises a resin composition comprising (A) an oligomer having a weight average molecular weight of 10,000 to 30,000 and having a (meth) acryloyl group in the molecule; (B) a (meth) acrylate monomer; (C) a polythiol compound and, optionally, (D) a carbodiimide-see abstract, wherein the ratio of the number of (meth) acryloyl group contained in both (A) and (B) to the number of mercapto groups contained in (C) is 100:5n to 100:25n, n being the number of mercapto groups per molecule of (C)—see abstract and col. 3, line 64 to col. 4, line 3. The polythiol compound is preferably a secondary thiol compound having two to six mercapto groups—see col. 4, lines 8-111. The composition can further comprise (E) a photoinitiator and/or (F) a viscosity modifying agent—see col. 4, lines 28-31.
Nakatani explicitly teaches the polythiol compound is a compound having a secondary mercapto group, wherein said secondary thiol contributes to superior storage stability properties in the composition, as well as, excellent coating stability. In addition, Nakatani discloses when a secondary thiol is added the resultant composition has excellent hardness and flexibility stability. It is believed the steric hindrance of the secondary thiol provides a balance between the radical reaction in the thiol-ene addition reaction and the thermal addition reaction—see col. 13, lines 14-29.
Nakatani sets forth an embodiment which is deemed to anticipate the instant invention. The coating composition of example 2 comprises 100 parts by weight of a urethane (meth) acrylate oligomer (UV-3000B); 60 parts of phenol acrylate (acrylic monomer, mw 148.46 g/mol); 8 parts of pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-merpactobutyrate) (secondary thiol); 8 parts viscosity modifier; 2 parts photoinitiator Irgacure 184, and 0.02 parts hydroquinone. Said composition comprises 4.7 wt. % of polythiol and has good storage stability. The compositions inherently stabilizes by balancing the addition reaction and thermal reaction by inhibiting radical reaction between the thiol group and ene groups since the steric hindrance in the secondary thiol limits substitution reactions between the thiol and ene group. Thus, claim 24 is deemed anticipated.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 57 and 63-71 are allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANZA L MCCLENDON whose telephone number is (571)272-1074. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5.
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/SANZA L. McCLENDON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1765
SMc
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