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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
¶0006: “…in which the self-dispersing resin is a self-dispersing resin…” (emphasis added) uses the word “resin” but is intended to refer to a self-dispersing pigment and should be edited accordingly.
¶00183: “…in which the self-dispersing resin is a self-dispersing resin…” (emphasis added) uses the word “resin” but is intended to refer to a self-dispersing pigment and should be edited accordingly.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 additional errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claims 1-11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. The amendments to the abstract, drawings, and the resolution of claim objections set forth in the previous Office communication (notification date November 14, 2025) are accepted.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wallace & Matthews (US 20230242781 A1; herein referred to as “Wallace”) in view of Ito (US 20180273780 A1), further in view of in view of Fukuda (US 20110102496 A1).
With respect to Claim 1, Wallace teaches an aqueous ink jet ink composition (i.e., “a water-based ink composition…as an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029) comprising:
A self-dispersing pigment (Wallace: ¶0074)
A water-soluble resin (i.e., “poly(styrene-maleic acid)…co-polymer”; Wallace: ¶0019). As the applicant notes in their specification (¶0052 & 0054) the resin is a resin polymerized using at least maleic acid or a maleic acid derivative, such as a styrene-maleic acid-based resin.
Wherein the self-dispersing pigment is obtained by introducing a functional group to the pigment (Wallace: ¶0074). Note that Wallace teaches that this functional group is a “hydrophilic” functional group (Wallace: ¶0074) but does not specify what hydrophilic compound is used in this functional group.
the content of the water-soluble resin (i.e., “poly(styrene-maleic acid)…co-polymer” aka “a solution soluble poly(styrene-maleic acid) (SMA) co-polymer”; Wallace: ¶0019; ¶0108-0109) is 1.8% by mass or less with respect to a total mass of the ink composition (i.e., “0.5-5% SMA polymer solids”; Wallace: ¶0112). The range of content of the water-soluble resin taught by Wallace overlaps with the claimed range.
the water-soluble resin (i.e., “poly(styrene-maleic acid)…co-polymer”; Wallace: ¶0019) has an acid value of 350 mgKOH/g or greater and 600 mg/KOH/g or less (i.e., “a poly(styrene-maleic acid) co-polymer having an acid number of ≥225 mg KOH/g” and “even more preferably 250-550 mg KOH/g”; Wallace: ¶0028-0029 & ¶0114). The range in the water-soluble resin’s acid value taught by Wallace overlaps with the claimed range.
the content of the self-dispersing pigment (i.e., “colorant”; Wallace: ¶0075) is 3.5% by mass or greater and 8.5% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink composition (i.e., “the amount (by weight) of the colorant in the inkjet ink compositions” is 0.1-10% ; Wallace: ¶0075). The range of content of the self-dispersing pigment taught by Wallace overlaps with the claimed range.
a mass ratio (self-dispersing pigment/water-soluble resin) of the self-dispersing pigment to the water-soluble resin (i.e., “poly(styrene-maleic acid)…co-polymer”; Wallace: ¶0019) is 2.8 or greater and less than 30 (i.e., “a poly(styrene-maleic acid)…co-polymer and pigment in a weight ratio of from about 20:1 to about 1:20”; Wallace: ¶0076). The pigment to water-soluble ratio taught in Wallace, which calculates to a range of 0.05 to 20, overlaps with the claimed range.
Wallace is silent on an aqueous ink jet ink composition comprising:
A betaine
Wherein the self-dispersing pigment is obtained by introducing a phosphorus-containing group to the pigment
the content of the betaine is 2.5% by mass or greater and 9.5% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink composition.
Ito teaches an aqueous ink jet ink composition (“a water-based ink composition for ink jet recording”; Ito: ¶0001) comprising:
A betaine (i.e., “a moisturizing agent (wetting agent)…and examples thereof include…betaines of trimethylglycine”; Ito: ¶0062-0063). Note that Wallace teaches an aqueous ink jet ink composition “may comprise a wetting agent”, but does not specify the type of wetting agent compounds that would be applicable (Wallace: ¶0062).
the content of the betaine is 2.5% by mass or greater and 9.5% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink composition (i.e., the “moisturizing agent” aka “wetting agent” is “preferably 5.0% by mass or more and 30% by mass or less”; Ito: ¶0062-0063 & ¶0065). Note that Wallace teaches an aqueous ink jet ink composition “may comprise a wetting agent”, but does not specify the type of wetting agent compounds that would be applicable nor their content by mass (Wallace: ¶0062). The range of content of the betaine taught by Ito overlaps with the claimed range.
Fukuda teaches an aqueous ink jet ink composition comprising: a self-dispersing pigment, wherein the self-dispersing pigment is obtained by introducing a phosphorus-containing group to the pigment (Fukuda: ¶0020, ¶0062, & ¶0064). Fukuda teaches “a self-dispersible pigment is a pigment which is dispersible in an aqueous medium in the absence of a surfactant or a resin because of one or more kinds of hydrophilic functional groups…bonded to the surface thereof directly or via an atom group” (emphasis added; Fukuda: ¶0062). Moreover, Fukuda provides examples of “acidic groups” which could be introduced to a pigment to provide self-dispersing qualities, including a “phosphonic acid group” (Fukuda: ¶0064). It is It is well known in the art that phosphonic acid groups are phosphorous-containing groups.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the wetting agent taught by Wallace (Wallace: ¶0062) to be comprised of betaines of trimethylglycine, because Ito teaches that betaines of trimethylglycine are “particularly preferably used” wetting agents (Ito: ¶0063).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to optimize the wetting agent taught by Wallace (Wallace: ¶0062) with the teachings of Ito because “a wetting agent lowers the interfacial tension of water allowing it to spread on a solid surface” (Wallace: ¶0062). Modifying the wetting agent taught by Wallace (Wallace: ¶0062) to be comprised of betaines of trimethylglycine at a content of 2.5-9.5% by mass (inclusively, with respect to the total mass of the ink composition) is beneficial for optimizing the ink, because Ito teaches that betaines of trimethylglycine are “particularly preferably used” wetting agents (aka “moisturizing agent”) and that “content of the moisturizing agent can be appropriately adjusted depending on the application, and it is preferably 5.0% by mass or more and 30% by mass or less” (Ito: ¶0063 & ¶0065). Moreover, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a content of the betaine of 2.5% by mass or greater or 9.5% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink composition, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art (in re Aller, 105 USPQ 233).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to optimize the hydrophilic functional group taught by Wallace (Wallace: ¶0062) with the teachings of Fukuda by selecting a phosphorus-containing group so the self-dispersing pigment is obtained by introducing a phosphorus-containing group to the pigment (Fukuda: ¶0020, ¶0062, & ¶0064), because phosphonic acid (a phosphorus-containing group) “has a high hydrophilic nature enough to stably disperse the pigment particles in an aqueous medium” (Fukuda: ¶0064).
With respect to Claim 2, Wallace in view of Ito, further in view of Fukuda, teaches the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029).
Wallace is silent on wherein the phosphorous-containing group is a phosphonic acid group.
Fukuda teaches wherein the phosphorous-containing group is a phosphonic acid group (Fukuda: ¶0020, ¶0062, & ¶0064). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to optimize the hydrophilic functional group taught by Wallace (Wallace: ¶0062) with the teachings of Fukuda by selecting a phosphorus-containing group so the self-dispersing pigment is obtained by introducing a phosphorus-containing group to the pigment (Fukuda: ¶0020, ¶0062, & ¶0064), because phosphonic acid (a phosphorus-containing group) “has a high hydrophilic nature enough to stably disperse the pigment particles in an aqueous medium” (Fukuda: ¶0064).
With respect to Claim 3, Wallace teaches the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029), wherein the content of the water-soluble resin (i.e., “poly(styrene-maleic acid)…co-polymer” aka “a solution soluble poly(styrene-maleic acid) (SMA) co-polymer”; Wallace: ¶0019 & ¶0108-0109) is 0.3% by mass or greater and 1.8% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink composition (i.e., “0.5-5% SMA polymer solids”; Wallace: ¶0112). The range of content of the water-soluble resin taught by Wallace overlaps with the claimed range.
With respect to Claim 4, Wallace teaches the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029), wherein the content of a resin particle is less than 0.1% by mass with respect to the total mass of the ink composition. The aqueous ink jet ink composition taught by Wallace is silent on the inclusion of resin particles. Therefore, this teaches the composition of resin particles in the aqueous ink jet ink composition taught by Wallace can be less than 0.1 wt%.
With respect to Claim 5, Wallace teaches the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029), wherein the water-soluble resin (i.e., “poly(styrene-maleic acid)…co-polymer”; emphasis added; Wallace: ¶0019) is selected from an acrylic resin or a maleic acid-based resin.
With respect to Claim 6, Wallace teaches the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029), wherein a proportion of a water-soluble monomer (i.e., the maleic acid, which is the soluble component of the copolymer comprised of styrene and maleic acid) in the water-soluble resin (i.e., “poly(styrene-maleic acid)…co-polymer”; emphasis added; Wallace: ¶0019) is 30% by mass or greater and 60% by mass or less when an amount of all monomers in the water-soluble resin is set to 100% by mass (i.e., 5-50% by weight maleic acid content in the water-soluble resin; Wallace: ¶0052). The range of the proportion of a water-soluble monomer in the water-soluble resin taught by Wallace overlaps with the claimed range.
With respect to Claim 7, Wallace in view of Ito, further in view of Fukuda, teaches the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029).
Wallace is silent on wherein the betaine is selected from trialkylglycine.
Ito teaches wherein the betaine is selected from trialkylglycine (i.e., betaines of trimethylglycine; Ito: ¶0063). As noted in the applicant’s specification in ¶0087, trimethylglycine is an example of a trialkylglycine.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the wetting agent taught by Wallace (Wallace: ¶0062) to be comprised of betaines of trimethylglycine, because Ito teaches that betaines of trimethylglycine are “particularly preferably used” wetting agents (Ito: ¶0063).
With respect to Claim 8, Wallace teaches the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029), wherein the ink composition is used for performing recording on an absorbing recording medium (i.e., “porous…substrates”; Wallace: ¶0020). Moreover, Wallace teaches that “Further advantages of the inks of the present invention are that they are preferably water-based and can be printed onto a diverse number of different substrates directly” (Wallace: ¶0045).
With respect to Claim 9, Wallace teaches the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029), further comprising: polyols having a standard boiling point of higher than 280⁰C (i.e., “humectants” such as triethylene glycol; Wallace: ¶0065). As noted in the applicant’s specification in ¶0099, triethylene glycol is an example of a polyol having a standard boiling point of higher than 280⁰C.
With respect to Claim 10, Wallace teaches a recording method performed by using an ink jet recording device (i.e., “an inkjet printing apparatus”; Wallace: ¶0090-0091) that includes an ink jet head (i.e., a “printhead”; Wallace: ¶0090-0091), the method comprising: jetting an ink jet ink composition from the ink jet head (i.e., “droplets of an inkjet ink composition as disclosed herein are ejected from a small nozzle of a printhead”; Wallace: ¶0090-0091) to make the ink jet ink composition adhere to a recording medium (i.e., a “substrate”), wherein the ink jet ink composition is the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “inkjet ink composition as disclosed”; Wallace: ¶0090-0091).
With respect to Claim 11, Wallace teaches the recording method according to claim 10 (Wallace: ¶0090-0091). Wallace teaches that the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (i.e., “an inkjet ink composition”; Wallace: ¶0029) is suitable for the method of “use in an industrial high-speed digital printing press”. Wallace is silent however, on defining the sheets per minute associated with “high-speed” printing.
Wallace is silent on wherein a recording speed is 20 sheets/min or greater.
Fukuda teaches that an aqueous ink for inkjet printing can be “suitable for high-speed printers, for example, a printer capable of printing at printing speed of 3-150 pages/min” (emphasis added; Fukuda: ¶0185). This recording speed range taught in Fukuda overlaps within the claimed range of 20 sheets/min or greater.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date that “high-speed” recording taught in Wallace would be capable of printing at recording speed of 3-150 pages/min, given this is a standard taught in Fukuda (Fukuda: ¶0185). Selecting a recording speed of 20 sheets/min or greater, a range that overlaps with the range taught in Fukuda, would ensure the printer is operating at high speed, which is beneficial for increasing the rate of production of printed products. Moreover, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the recording speed of the ink jet recording device, because it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art (in re Aller, 105 USPQ 233).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Matsuzaki & Kosaka (US 2018 0265727 A1) teaches an aqueous ink jet ink composition comprising the following:
With respect to Claim 1: a surface-treated pigment having a phosphorus-containing group on a surface thereof (i.e., a self-dispersing pigment obtained by introducing a phosphorus-containing group) (Matsuzaki & Kosaka: claim 1) in a concentration that overlaps with the range 3.5-8.5 wt% specified in claim 1 (Matsuzaki & Kosaka: claim 6).
With respect to Claim 2: an example of the phosphorus-containing group is a phosphonic acid group (Matsuzaki & Kosaka: ¶0079)
With respect to Claims 8, wherein the ink composition is used for performing recording on an absorbing recording medium (Matsuzaki & Kosaka: claim 7).
With respect to Claim 9: an organic solvent having a standard boiling point of higher than 280°C (Matsuzaki & Kosaka: claim 4). Note that polyols are organic solvents.
With respect to claim 10: A recording method performed by using an ink jet recording device that includes an ink jet head, the method comprising: jetting an ink jet ink composition from the ink jet head to make the ink jet ink composition adhere to a recording medium, wherein the ink jet ink composition is the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 (Matsuzaki & Kosaka: claim 7).
Matsuzaki & Kosaka teach the inclusion of resin dispersion (Matsuzaki & Kosaka: claim 1) rather than the water-soluble resin claimed in claims 1, 3, and 5-6.
Kaeriyama & Atsushi (US 20220041880 A1) teaches an aqueous ink jet ink composition comprising the following:
A self-dispersing pigment and the content of the pigment claimed in Claim 1;
A water-soluble resin with the acid value claimed in Claim 1, the content of the water-soluble resin claimed in Claims 1 & 3, the chemical compounds claimed in Claim 5, and the portion of water-soluble monomer claimed in Claim 6; and
A mass ratio of (self-dispersing pigment/water-soluble resin) of the self-dispersing pigment to the water-soluble resin claimed in Claim 1
A betaine
Kaeriyama & Atsushi is silent on the ink jet ink composition comprising betaines of trimethylglycine as claimed in Claim 7.
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHLOMIT CHELST whose telephone number is (571)272-0832. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
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/RICARDO I MAGALLANES/Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/SHLOMIT CHELST/ Examiner, Art Unit 2853