DETAILED ACTION
Claim Status
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected.
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 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 Rejections - 35 USC § 103 (AIA )
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over:
• MIYAKOSHI ET AL (US 2013/0052336).
MIYAKOSHI ET AL ‘336 discloses liquid crystal polyester (LCP) polymers, wherein the LCPs contain:
(1) 30-80 mol% of at least one kind of repeating units of formula (1) (corresponding to the recited “structural unit represented by the following formula (1)” of claims 5, 15):
- O - Ar1 - CO - (1)
wherein: Ar1 represents
Ar1 represents a substituted or unsubstituted phenylene group, a naphthylene group (corresponding to the recited “structural unit comprising a naphthalene structure” of claims 3-4, 13-14), or a biphenylylene group;
(2) less than 35 mol% (preferably 10-35 mol%) of at least one kind of repeating units of formula (2) (corresponding to the recited “structural unit derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid” and the recited “structural unit represented by the following formula (2)” of claims 5, 15):
- CO - Ar2 - CO - (2)
wherein Ar2 represents a substituted or unsubstituted phenylene group, a naphthylene group (additionally or alternatively corresponding to the recited “structural unit comprising a naphthalene structure” of claims 3-4, 13-14), or a biphenylylene group,
(3) less than 35 mol% (preferably 10-35 mol%) of at least one kind of repeating units of formula (3) (corresponding to the recited “structural unit derived from an aromatic diol” and the recited “structural unit represented by the following formula (3)” of claims 5, 15):
- X - Ar3 - Y - (3)
wherein Ar3 represents a substituted or unsubstituted phenylene group, a naphthylene group (additionally or alternatively corresponding to the recited “structural unit comprising a naphthalene structure” of claims 3-4, 13-14), or a biphenylylene group;
wherein X and Y can each represent an oxygen atom;
wherein the molar ratio of the repeating unit (3) (corresponding to the recited “structural unit derived from an aromatic diol”) to the repeating unit (2) (corresponding to the recited “structural unit derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid”) can be less than 1.0 (e.g., as low as 0.95 or as low as 0.9);
wherein the LCPs preferably have a flow initiation temperature (corresponding to the recited “flow start temperature” of claim 2) of 260 ºC or less. The LCPs are generally utilized in the form of a liquid LCP composition comprising: (i) the LCP in powder form; and (ii) solvent(s); wherein the liquid LCP composition can be subsequently used to form: (b) laminates comprising LCP films and one or two supports; or (b) stand-alone LCP films. A method for forming laminates comprising LCP films and one or two supports comprises:
• providing a liquid LCP composition (corresponding to the recited “liquid crystalline polyester composition” of claim 8) by combining LCP powder and solvent (corresponding to the recited “medium” of claim 8);
• applying the liquid LCP composition to a first supporting base material (corresponding to the recited “first support” of claims 9-10 and the recited “first metal layer” of claims 17-18) (e.g., a conductive foil, such as copper foil, aluminum foil, stainless steel foil, etc.);
• heating the LCP-coated supporting base material to form a LCP film layer on the first supporting base material;
• thereby forming a laminated base material (corresponding to the recited “laminate” of claims 10, 17 and the recited “first laminate” of claim 11) comprising:
• the LCP film layer;
• a first supporting base material (corresponding to the recited “first support” of claims 9-10);
• optionally further applying an additional conductive layer or metallic foil (corresponding to the recited “second support” of claim 11 and the recited “second metal layer” of claim 18) on the LCP film layer of the laminated base material;
• bonding the conductive layer or metallic film to the LCP film layer by laminating (e.g., via adhesion using an adhesive; via fusion using thermal pressing (corresponding to the recited “heating the liquid crystalline polyester film” of claim 11); etc.);
• thereby forming a second laminate comprising:
• a conductive layer or metallic foil (corresponding to the recited “second support” of claim 11 and the recited “second metal layer” of claim 18);
• the LCP film layer;
• first supporting base material (corresponding to the recited “first support” of claims 9-11 and the recited “first metal layer” of claims 17-18).
(entire document, e.g., paragraph 0014, 0017-0020, 0022, 0042-0043, 0053-0062, 0070-0072, 0093-0101, 0105, 0115-0122, etc.)
Regarding claims 1-18, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize LCP resins contain repeating units of formula (3) (corresponding to the recited “structural unit derived from an aromatic diol” and the recited “structural unit represented by the following formula (3)” of claims 5, 15) in amounts which are up to 10 mol% less than amount of repeating units of formula (2) (corresponding to the recited “structural unit derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid” and the recited “structural unit represented by the following formula (2)” of claims 5, 15) (corresponding to the recited “a molar ratio of the structural unit derived from an aromatic diol/the structural unit derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid in the liquid crystalline polyester is less than 1” of claims 1, 12; corresponding to the recited “a molar ratio of the structural unit represented by the formula (3)/the structural unit represented by the formula (2) in the liquid crystalline polyester is less than 1” of claims 6, 16) as disclosed in MIYAKOSHI ET AL ‘336 to form LCP powders and LCP films.
Further regarding claims 1, 6, 12, 16, since:
(i) MIYAKOSHI ET AL ‘336 allows for LCPs containing multiple types of repeating units of formula (3);
(ii) MIYAKOSHI ET AL ‘336 discloses amounts of repeating units of formula (3) and repeating units of formula (2) which are generally equal, but not necessarily identical (e.g., differing by up to ±10 mol%);
(iii) the present claims do not require the recited “molar ratio” to be based on the total amount of structural units derived from all aromatic diols and the total amount of structural units derived from all aromatic dicarboxylic acids in the liquid crystalline polyester;
(iv) the present claims only require the recited “molar ratio” to be based on the amount of structural unit derived from an (i.e., one kind) aromatic diol and the amount of structural unit derived from an (i.e., one kind) aromatic dicarboxylic acid;
LCP copolymers in accordance with MIYAKOSHI ET AL ‘336 which contain:
• a first kind of repeating units of formula (3) (e.g., a first kind of aromatic diol):
• non-trivial amounts of a second kind of repeating units of formula (3) (e.g., a second kind of aromatic diol); and
• one type of repeating units of formula (3) (e.g., a kind of aromatic dicarboxylic acid;
will generally have a molar ratio (one kind of aromatic diol / one kind of aromatic dicarboxylic acid) which are less than 1. For example, an LCP copolymer containing:
• 50 mol% repeating units (I) of hydroxycarboxylic acid of formula (1);
• 10 mol% repeating unit derived from a first aromatic diol (II-1);
• 15 mol% repeating unit derived from a second aromatic diol (II-2); and 25 mol% repeating unit derived from a dicarboxylic acid (III);
would have a molar ratio (II-1)/(III) of less than 1 and a molar ratio (II-2)/(III) of less than 1.
Regarding claims 3-4, 13-14, since MIYAKOSHI ET AL ‘336 discloses that Ar1 and Ar2 and Ar3 can independently represent a naphthylene group, the LCPs of MIYAKOSHI ET AL ‘336 can have a “structural unit comprising a naphthalene structure” content of 40 mol% or more.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
AZAMI ET AL (US 2022/0153937) and AZAMI ET AL (US 2022/0089899) and OKAMOTO ET AL (US 2003/0178602) and OKAMOTO ET AL (US 2004/0152865) and OKAMOTO (US 2004/0058137) and LEE (US 2019/0240957) and ITO ET AL (US 2010/0028623) and OHBE ET AL (US 6,376,076) and MIZUNO ET AL (US 2013/0081865) and KATAGIRI ET AL (US 2004/0192858) disclose LCP powders and films made therefrom.
KOCK (US 4,831,103) discloses that LCP resins wherein the ratio of structural units derived from one type of aromatic diol and structural units derived from one type of aromatic dicarboxylic acid can be less than 1.
NISHIMURA ET AL (US 2014/0088287) and KOMATSU (US 2023/0094406) disclose LCP films.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Vivian Chen (Vivian.chen@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 272-1506. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 6 PM. The examiner can also be reached on alternate Fridays.
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November 15, 2025
/VIVIAN CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787