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 .
This office action is in response to applicants arguments dated 06 February 2026. Claims 1-16 are pending in the application. Claims 1-2 have been amended. Claim 5 was cancelled. Claims 3-4 and 6-16 have previously been withdrawn.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy of Japan Application No. 2023-048109 and 2023-188562 was received on 07 May 2024 as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 13 March 2024 are accepted.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mombourquette et al. (US PGPub 2020/018295 A1), hereinafter Mombourquette.
With regard to Claim 1, Mombourquette discloses a printing method (¶0013) comprising:
applying a pretreatment liquid to a planned formation region of a printing liquid image and an overhang region on a target printing medium to form a pretreatment liquid image with the pretreatment liquid (Fig. 1; pretreatment area 60, image area 140; ¶0025, 0038);
moving a leveling member on the pretreatment liquid image (¶0030-0031),
the leveling member being one of a leveling blade or a leveling squeegee (¶0030, Teflon film sheet which flattens and smooths the textile fibers immediately following the application of the pretreatment liquid): and
applying a printing liquid to the pretreatment liquid image to form the printing liquid image with the printing liquid (¶0035; Fig. 1; image area 140),
wherein the overhang region is adjacent to the planned formation region of the printing liquid image and is upstream of a movement direction of the leveling member at any point in time (Fig. 1, pretreatment area 60 overhangs the image on all sides of the image region).
With regard to Claim 2, Mombourquette further discloses wherein the leveling member is moved in only one direction at a specific time (¶0031).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, see pages 7-8, filed 06 February 2026 with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 USC 103 are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection applied to claim 1 in this office action.
Conclusion
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCOTT A. RICHMOND whose telephone number is (313)446-6547. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-6:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas Rodriguez can be reached on 571-431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SCOTT A RICHMOND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853