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 .
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.
Claim Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 7, applicants claim “wherein the silica a specific gravity…” This is grammatically incorrect.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-3 and 6-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakanishi (US 2024/0182677), as evidenced by US 2022/0251254 and WO 2025/058029.
Nakanishi teaches a curable composition comprising the following:
10-50 wt% of at least one thermosetting resin, specifically listed to include a polyindane (p. 1, [0016] and p. 7, [0032]), teaching that a polyindane terminated with two maleimide groups, as described in US 2022/0251254, which is incorporated by reference (p. 3, [0021]), where the maleimide of (A-1) in US ‘254 has a molecular weight of about 793 g/mol (p. 8, [0132]), and meets applicants’ polyindene resin;
1-10 wt% of an additive polymer which can include ethylene monomer units and styrene monomer units, and is listed to include a polydivinylbenzene copolymer (p. 7, [0033]-[0034]), and meets applicants’ low dielectric resin as it is inherently low dielectric due to its hydrocarbon only skeleton;
1-50 wt% of at least one filler, preferably silica having a particle size of up to 20 micron and exemplified as 2 micron (p. 8, [0037]-[0043] and p. 12, Table 1), and meets applicants’ inorganic filler;
0.1-1 wt% of a coupling agent (p. 8, [0046] to p. 9, [0050]);
1-50 wt% of a crosslinking agent, specifically listed to include triallyl (iso)cyanurate, divinylbenzene, etc. (p. 9, [0053]-[0054]); and
5-45 wt% of a flame retardant, specifically listed to include halogen-free flame retardants, such as PQ-60 (p. 9, [0055]-[0056]), known in the art as p-xylylene-bis-diphenylphosphine oxide, which meets applicants’ formula (I) when R2 is benzene.
Nakanishi teaches that the laminate prepared from the curable composition has a Dk of at most 3.1 and a Df of at most of 0.0013 (p. 11, [0072]-[0073]).
In Example CC1, Nakanishi exemplifies a composition comprising a resin system of about 47 wt% thermosetting resin, 29 wt% crosslinking resin and 24 wt% additive polymer, 0.8 phr coupling agent, 116 phr silica and 39 phr flame retardant.
Nakanishi teaches that the amount of crosslinking agent can be reduced to a low as 1 wt% of the composition. Choosing an amount of, for example, 5 wt% of the composition, suggests the resin system as comprising about 57 wt% thermosetting resin, 15 wt% crosslinking agent, and 28 wt% additive polymer.
Therefore, it can be seen that the amounts taught by Nakanishi overlap with the claimed ranges and Df and Dk properties, and it has been held that overlapping ranges are sufficient to establish prima facie obviousness. See MPEP 2144.05.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have selected from the overlapping portion of the range taught by the reference because overlapping ranges have been held to establish prima facie obviousness.
Nakanishi does not teach the Tg of the composition; however, mentions NE-X-9470S. NE-X-9470S as having a structure of (M1), shown below, which has a Tg of 265°C, as evidenced by WO ‘029 (p. 56):
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Nakanishi teaches that the additive polymer increases the glass transition temperature (p. 7, [0034]), and the compositions claimed by the instant invention are prima facie obvious over those taught by Nakanishi by way of overlapping ranges; therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would expect the Tg of the resin composition to be greater than 200°C as claimed.
Nakanishi is prima facie obvious over instant claims 1-3 and 8-9.
As to claims 6-7, Nakanishi exemplifies the inclusion of a mixture of silica, comprising a combination of hollow silica and solid silica (Table 4, CC-5 through CC-7), where the solid silica is “EQ2410-SMC”, has a specific gravity (density) of about 2.2 g/mL, a particle size of 2.5 micron, and as evidenced by Liao, is synthetic silica (p. 4, Table 1).
As to claims 10-12, Nakanishi teaches a preparing a prepreg by impregnating glass cloth with the composition which is then laminated with Cu on both sides (pp. 10-11).
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakanishi (US 2024/0182677), as applied above to claims 1-3 and 6-12, in view of Kuray (US 2024/0174623), as evidenced by Liao (US 2024/0417557).
Nakanishi teaches a curable composition comprising a polyindane terminated with two maleimide groups, an additive polymer which can include ethylene monomer units and styrene monomer units, and is listed to include a polydivinylbenzene copolymer, silica filler, a coupling agent, a crosslinking agent, and p-xylylene-bis-diphenylphosphine oxide flame retardant, having overlapping amount so these components, and providing a cured composition with a Dk of at most 3.1 and a Df of at most of 0.0013.
As described above, Nakanishi teaches the additive polymer (e.g., an elastomer) to include an ethylene monomer unit, styrene monomer unit, and includes divinylbenzene copolymer, teaching that the additive polymer can improve thermal properties (e.g., a higher glass transition temperature and/or a lower coefficient of thermal expansion), mechanical properties (e.g., copper peel and/or inner layer bond strength), or electrical properties (e.g., Dk and/or Df) of the curable compositions.
Nakanishi does not teach the actual divinylbenzene copolymer, as claimed in instant claims 4-5.
Kuray teaches a composition comprising (1) a maleimide-containing compound comprising a bismaleimide compound; (2) at least one low dielectric loss polymer including a copolymer comprising styrene monomer unit, an ethylene monomer unit…a divinylbenzene unit…; (3) at least one filler; and (4) at least one radical initiator (p. 1, [0007]). Kuray teaches the low dielectric loss copolymer to include a divinylbenzene copolymer comprising divinylbenzene, styrene and ethylene that can be used to offer low electrical loss and some elastomeric properties. Kuray exemplifies this copolymer as LDM-03 (p. 25, Example 62), which as evidenced by Liao, meets the claimed makeup, as Liao exemplifies using LDM-03 as a first resin (p. 4, [0053]) and describes the first resin as follows (p. 2):
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have used LDM-03 as the additive polymer in Nakanishi, as Nakanishi teaches that the additive polymer can be made up of divinylbenzene, styrene and ethylene, and Kuray teaches that LDM-03 is a suitable additive polymer of a bismaleimide copolymer to provide low electrical loss and some elastomeric properties, allowing the cured composition to resist any crack initiation and propagation (p. 8, [0043]).
Nakanishi in view of Kuray is prima facie obvious over instant claims 4-5.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIEANN R JOHNSTON whose telephone number is (571)270-7344. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST.
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/Brieann R Johnston/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
