Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Application No. 18/683,360

NEAR-INFRARED LIGHT TRANSMITTING BLACK PARTICLES

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Feb 13, 2024
Priority
Aug 18, 2021 — JP 2021-133611 +2 more
Examiner
YOON, TAE H
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
66%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
4m
Est. Remaining
91%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 66% — above average
66%
Career Allowance Rate
975 granted / 1467 resolved
+6.5% vs TC avg
Strong +25% interview lift
Without
With
+24.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
37 currently pending
Career history
1487
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.3%
-38.7% vs TC avg
§103
41.5%
+1.5% vs TC avg
§102
15.0%
-25.0% vs TC avg
§112
29.9%
-10.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1467 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . DETAILED ACTION EXAMINER’S COMMENT Insertion of continuing data of PCT and Japanese Foreign Priority documents at beginning of the specification is suggested. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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. Claims 1-5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2015-110691 A (June 18, 2015). JP teaches a near-infrared transmissive black azo pigment of formula (I) in abstract. JP teaches a transmittance T600 (%) at a wavelength of 600 nm and a transmittance T900 (%) at a wavelength of 900 nm being about 5% and 85%, respectively in Figure 5 of page 27 which would meet claims 1 and 2. Regrading claims 3 and 4, the Figure 1 of JP and the instant Figure 1 show very similar pattern of % Transmittance as to wavelengths and thus the black azo pigment of JP would be expected to meet the recited properties inherently. Since PTO does not have equipment to conduct the test, it is fair to require applicant to shoulder the burden of proving that his material differs from those of JP. See In re Best, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977). Charles Pfizer & Co. v. FTC, 401 F.2d 574, 579 (6th Cir. 1968). Inherent anticipation does not require that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized the inherent disclosure, Schering Corp. v. Geneva Pharms., Inc., 339 F.3d 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2002). See MPEP 2112.01. JP teaches a copolymer of formula 2 (amino group-containing compound) and formula 3 (hydroxy group-containing aromatic ring) in claims 1 and 5 which would meet claim 5. At least NH2 group of the formula 2 (amino group-containing compound) taught by JP would meet the recited auxochrome of claim 7. Claims 1-5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2016-6059646 A (Dec 16, 2016) with Machine translation. JP teaches a near-infrared transmissive black azo pigment of formula (I) in abstract. JP teaches a transmittance T600 (%) at a wavelength of 600 nm and a transmittance T900 (%) at a wavelength of 900 nm being about 5% and 85%, respectively in Figure 5 of page 25 which would meet claims 1 and 2. Regrading claims 3 and 4, the Figure 1 of JP and the instant Figure 1 show very similar pattern of % Transmittance as to wavelengths and thus the black azo pigment of JP would be expected to meet the recited properties inherently. Since PTO does not have equipment to conduct the test, it is fair to require applicant to shoulder the burden of proving that his material differs from those of JP. See In re Best, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977). Charles Pfizer & Co. v. FTC, 401 F.2d 574, 579 (6th Cir. 1968). Inherent anticipation does not require that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized the inherent disclosure, Schering Corp. v. Geneva Pharms., Inc., 339 F.3d 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2002). See MPEP 2112.01. JP teaches a copolymer of formula 2 (amino group-containing compound) and formula 3 (hydroxy group-containing aromatic ring) in claims 1 and 4 which would meet claim 5. At least NH2 group of the formula 2 (amino group-containing compound) taught by JP would meet the recited auxochrome of claim 7. CLAIM OBJECTION Claim 6 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims since JP 2015-110691 A (June 18, 2015) and JP 2016-6059646 A (Dec 16, 2016) fail to teach or suggest utilization of a crosslinking agent and since it is unclear whether utilization of the crosslinking agent in JP would yield a black azo pigment having the recited % Transmittance of claim 1 or not due to a different chemical structure obtained by utilization of the crosslinking agent. EXAMINER’S COMMENT Patel JR et al. (Study of Novel Oligomeric Azo Dyes, International Journal for Pharmaceutical Research Scholars (IJPRS), V-1, I-3, 2012) teach a polymeric metal chelates of AAPFQ (6-(p-methoxy phenyl) diazo-minophenol-Formaldehyde-5-chloromethyl-8-quinolinol) yielding color from dark red to brown. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAE H YOON whose telephone number is (571)272-1128. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Jones can be reached at (571)270-7733. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /TAE H YOON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 13, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 27, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
66%
Grant Probability
91%
With Interview (+24.7%)
2y 10m (~4m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1467 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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