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 § 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) 1-4, 7 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Yun et al. (US 10,751,974, cited by applicant).
Yun discloses a laminate comprising a substrate layer, an adhesive agent layer, and a sealant layer in this order, the substrate layer and the sealant layer containing polyethylene, the substrate layer having a crystallinity of 35% or more (column 1, lines 31-44, column 2, lines 3-53, column 3, lines 40-52 and column 4, lines 4-7, column 7, lines 19-30 and Table 2).
Yun does not specifically disclose the crystallinity being a ratio of a crystal peak
area to a total peak area, the crystallinity being measured at a diffraction angle in a range of 10° to 30° by a parallel beam method of X-ray diffraction. However, Yu discloses DSC and that any other method for determining crystallinity can be used (column 7, lines 19-30). Furthermore, the method by which the crystallinity does not structurally further limit claim 1 since applicant claims very broad range for crystallinity of 35% or more and Yu discloses a specific crystallinity of 52.9% (Table 2) and a range for crystallinity of 42-63% (column 2, lines 38-53). There’s also no evidence that the crystallinity found using DSC would be vastly different than the crystallinity found using applicant’s method.
Yu discloses claims 2-4, 7 and 14 (column 1, lines 31-44, column 2, lines 3-53, column 3, lines 40-52 and column 4, lines 4-7, column 7, lines 19-30 and Table 2).
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yun et al. (US 10,751,974, cited by applicant).
Yun discloses a laminate comprising a substrate layer, an adhesive agent layer, and a sealant layer in this order, the substrate layer and the sealant layer containing polyethylene, the substrate layer having a crystallinity of 35% or more (column 1, lines 31-44, column 2, lines 3-53, column 3, lines 40-52 and column 4, lines 4-7, column 7, lines 19-30 and Table 2).
Yun does not specifically disclose the crystallinity being a ratio of a crystal peak
area to a total peak area, the crystallinity being measured at a diffraction angle in a range of 10° to 30° by a parallel beam method of X-ray diffraction. However, Yu discloses DSC and that any other method for determining crystallinity can be used (column 7, lines 19-30). Furthermore, the method by which the crystallinity does not structurally further limit claim 1 since applicant claims very broad range for crystallinity of 35% or more and Yu discloses a specific crystallinity of 52.9% (Table 2) and a range for crystallinity of 42-63% (column 2, lines 38-53). There’s also no evidence that the crystallinity found using DSC would be vastly different than the crystallinity found using applicant’s method. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time applicant’s invention was made to have used x-ray diffraction to determine crystallinity in order to provide greater accuracy.
Yu discloses claims 2-4, 7 and 14 (column 1, lines 31-44, column 2, lines 3-53, column 3, lines 40-52 and column 4, lines 4-7, column 7, lines 19-30 and Table 2).
Claim(s) 8-13 and 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yun et al. (US 10,751,974, cited by applicant) in view of JP2020-203405 (English machine translation provided herein).
Yun dos not disclose wherein the substrate layer is an uniaxially stretched film, further comprising a gas barrier layer placed between the substrate layer and the sealant layer, wherein the adhesive agent layer has a gas barrier property, wherein the sealant layer is white, wherein a ratio of polyethylene in the laminate is 90 mass% or more, comprising a first adhesive agent layer and a second adhesive agent layer as the adhesive agent layer, the first adhesive agent layer being placed between the substrate layer and the intermediate layer, the second adhesive agent layer being placed between the intermediate layer and the sealant layer, the package being a standing pouch, a packaged article comprising the package and a content contained in the package.
JP2020-203405 discloses wherein the substrate layer is an uniaxially stretched film, further comprising a gas barrier layer placed between the substrate layer and the sealant layer, wherein the adhesive agent layer has a gas barrier property, wherein the sealant layer is white, wherein a ratio of polyethylene in the laminate is 90 mass% or more, comprising a first adhesive agent layer and a second adhesive agent layer as the adhesive agent layer, the first adhesive agent layer being placed between the substrate layer and the intermediate layer, the second adhesive agent layer being placed between the intermediate layer and the sealant layer, the package being a standing pouch, a packaged article comprising the package and a content contained in the package (paragraphs [0007], [0013-0015], [0024-0025], [0040], [0053-0054], [0090-0091], [0136-0155]) for the purpose of providing improved strength and heat resistance.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time applicant’s invention was made to have provided wherein the substrate layer is an uniaxially stretched film, further comprising a gas barrier layer placed between the substrate layer and the sealant layer, wherein the adhesive agent layer has a gas barrier property, wherein the sealant layer is white, wherein a ratio of polyethylene in the laminate is 90 mass% or more, comprising a first adhesive agent layer and a second adhesive agent layer as the adhesive agent layer, the first adhesive agent layer being placed between the substrate layer and the intermediate layer, the second adhesive agent layer being placed between the intermediate layer and the sealant layer, the package being a standing pouch, a packaged article comprising the package and a content contained in the package in Yun in order to provide improved strength and heat resistance as taught or suggested by JP2020-203405.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yun et al. (US 10,751,974, cited by applicant) in view of KR0115791 (English machine translation provided herein).
Yun does not disclose a protective layer as an outermost layer, the protective layer facing the sealant layer with the substrate layer placed between the protective layer and the sealant layer.
KR0115791 discloses a protective layer as an outermost layer, the protective layer facing the sealant layer with the substrate layer placed between the protective layer and the sealant layer (see entire document, especially page 4 and Fig. 5) in a packaging material for the purpose of providing improved protective and sealing properties.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time applicant’s invention was made to have provided a protective layer as an outermost layer, the protective layer facing the sealant layer with the substrate layer placed between the protective layer and the sealant layer in Yun in order to provide improved protective and sealing properties as taught or suggested by KR0115791.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yun et al. (US 10,751,974, cited by applicant) in view of KR0115791 (English machine translation provided herein), as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of JP2020-196791 (English machine translation provided herein).
Modified Yun does not disclose wherein the protective layer contains a thermosetting resin.
JP2020-196791 discloses wherein the protective layer contains a thermosetting resin (paragraphs [0001-0002], [0007-0008], [0017-0019], [0028-0034], [0043-0052], [0072]) in packaging for the purpose of providing improved recyclability, blocking resistance and/or protective properties.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time applicant’s invention was made to have provided wherein the protective layer contains a thermosetting resin in Yun in order to provide improved recyclability, blocking resistance and/or protective properties as taught or suggested by JP2020-196791.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL C MIGGINS whose telephone number is (571)272-1494. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 1-9 pm EST.
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/MICHAEL C MIGGINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782
MCM
June 19, 2026
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