DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the embodiments according to structure 4 in claim 6 and Example 5 of Table 1 in the reply filed on 1/14/2026 is acknowledged.
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) 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwase et al. (2024/0360324) in view of Qiu et al. (2016/0229875).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 7 and 8, Iwase teaches an ink-repellent member ([0322]) comprising an underlying portion ([0323]) containing at least one of a silicon oxide ([0323]) and a tantalum oxide, the underlying portion having a fluorine compound ([0323]) bonded to a surface thereof ([0323]), wherein, when a static contact angle and a receding contact angle of the surface after the ink-repellent member is subjected to the following immersion treatment are represented by Θ and Θr, respectively, the Θ is 100° or more ([0380]):
(Immersion Treatment)
(1) a test piece including the surface is cut out of the ink-repellent member, is placed in a sealable container containing an aqueous solution having a pH of 11, and is immersed in the aqueous solution SO that the test piece is entirely immersed therein ([0378]),
(2) the test piece is maintained at 70°C for 170 hours under a sealed state after the immersion in (see below).
Iwase does not teach wherein Θ - Θr is less than 15°. Qiu teaches wherein a receding contact angle and a static contact angle are within (Qui, Table 1, EX3b, Note static contact angle of 101.6 and receding contact angle of 92). 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 film with a receding contact angle in the general range of the static contact angle, as disclosed by Qiu, in the device disclosed by Iwase because doing so would amount to applying a known range of contact angles to a known device to obtain predictable results.
Note that, for purposes of all rejections the claimed ink jet head and ink ejection surface are being interpreted to be part of the preambles of the claims and thus are not being given patentable weight. Further, it should also be noted that the steps of the immersion treatment seem to be directed to a method of manufacture, not an article and thus are not being given patentable weight.
Regarding claims 3 and 9, Iwase in view of Qiu teaches the ink-repellent member according to claim 1, wherein, when the underlying portion contains the silicon oxide, the fluorine compound is bonded to the surface via a Si-O-Si bond (Iwase, [0323]), and wherein, when the underlying portion contains the tantalum oxide, the fluorine compound is bonded to the surface via a Ta-O-Si bond.
Regarding claim 4, Iwase in view of Qiu teaches the ink-repellent member according to claim 1 further comprising a base material (Iwase, [0322], substrate), wherein the underlying portion is arranged on the base material (Iwase, [0322]).
Regarding claims 5 and 10, Iwase in view of Qiu teaches the ink-repellent member according to claim 1, wherein the fluorine compound has a main chain having a perfluoropolyether structure (Iwase, [0029]) and has a perfluoromethyl group (Iwase, [0120]) at an end thereof.
Regarding claims 6 and 11, Iwase in view of Qiu teaches the ink-repellent member according to claim 1, wherein the fluorine compound has at least one of a structure represented by the following formula (2), a structure represented by the following formula (3), a structure represented by the following formula (4), and a structure represented by the following formula (5): CF-CF-CF-O CF CF-CF-O CF-O n3 CF-CF-O n4 n2 n1 (2) (3) (4) (5) in the formulae (2), (3), (4), and (5), n1, n2, n3, and n4 each independently represent an integer of 1 or more ([0047]).
Claim(s) 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwase in view of Qiu as applied to claims 7 above, and further in view of Yamada (2022/0266595).
Regarding claims 12-14, Yamada teaches an ink ejection apparatus with a nozzle surface made of an inorganic oxide that produced an article by ejecting liquid containing a functional material for forming functional thin film a functional element (Yamada, [0014], Note that ink is a functional material, and ink is ejected to form an image in the form a film). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the ink-repellent coating disclosed by Iwase in view of Qiu to the nozzle surface disclosed by Yamada because doing so would amount to combining a known ink-repellent film composition to a known surface in need of such a composition to obtain predictable results.
Conclusion
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/ALEJANDRO VALENCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853