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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-15 in the reply filed on 02/05/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Jierarduo only shows compositions with one type of polyether polyol. This is found persuasive; however, a new restriction requirement is disclosed.
REQUIREMENT FOR UNITY OF INVENTION
As provided in 37 CFR 1.475(a), a national stage application shall relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept (“requirement of unity of invention”). Where a group of inventions is claimed in a national stage application, the requirement of unity of invention shall be fulfilled only when there is a technical relationship among those inventions involving one or more of the same or corresponding special technical features. The expression “special technical features” shall mean those technical features that define a contribution which each of the claimed inventions, considered as a whole, makes over the prior art.
The determination whether a group of inventions is so linked as to form a single general inventive concept shall be made without regard to whether the inventions are claimed in separate claims or as alternatives within a single claim. See 37 CFR 1.475(e).
When Claims Are Directed to Multiple Categories of Inventions:
As provided in 37 CFR 1.475 (b), a national stage application containing claims to different categories of invention will be considered to have unity of invention if the claims are drawn only to one of the following combinations of categories:
(1) A product and a process specially adapted for the manufacture of said product; or
(2) A product and a process of use of said product; or
(3) A product, a process specially adapted for the manufacture of the said product, and a use of the said product; or
(4) A process and an apparatus or means specifically designed for carrying out the said process; or
(5) A product, a process specially adapted for the manufacture of the said product, and an apparatus or means specifically designed for carrying out the said process.
Otherwise, unity of invention might not be present. See 37 CFR 1.475 (c).
Restriction is required under 35 U.S.C. 121 and 372.
This application contains the following inventions or groups of inventions which are not so linked as to form a single general inventive concept under PCT Rule 13.1.
In accordance with 37 CFR 1.499, applicant is required, in reply to this action, to elect a single invention to which the claims must be restricted.
Group I, claim(s) 1-15, drawn to an adhesive composition.
Group II, claim(s) 16, drawn to a method of applying the adhesive composition for bonding of substrates in production.
Group III, claim(s) 17, drawn to a method of bonding a first substrate to a second substrate.
The groups of inventions listed above do not relate to a single general inventive concept under PCT Rule 13.1 because, under PCT Rule 13.2, they lack the same or corresponding special technical features for the following reasons:
Groups I-III lack unity of invention because even though the inventions of these groups require the technical feature of an adhesive composition comprising an isocyanate functional prepolymer obtained by reacting at least one solid polyester polyol, at least one grafted polyether polyol, at least one additional polyether polyol and polyisocyanate , this technical feature is not a special technical feature as it does not make a contribution over the prior art in view of U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2022/0235249 to Sutyak et al. in view of U.S. Patent No. 5,922,809 to Bhat at el.
Sutyak discloses a hot melt adhesive comprising an isocyanate functional prepolymer obtained by reacting at least one solid polyester polyol (Dynacoll 7360 or 7380), a mixture of at least two polyether polyols (PPG 2000, PPG 425), and a polyisocyanate in the presence of catalyst (DMDEE, Examples E1-E8).
Sutyak does not expressly disclose a grafted polyether polyol.
However, Bhat within the same field of endeavor teaches a hot melt adhesive comprising an isocyanate-functional prepolymer derived from mixtures of polyester diol, polyether diols and triols, and polyisocyanates wherein the prepolymer further comprises from 20 t0 40% by mass of a grafted polyether triol obtained by grafting styrene/acrylonitrile onto a polyoxypropylene triol with an average molecular weight of 54000 (13:33-55).
At the time of filing it would have been obvious to include the grafted polyether polyol of Bhat within the prepolymer adhesive composition of Sutyak to improve impact and elastomeric properties without reducing the ultimate strength of the adhesive (8:1-4).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2022/0235249 to Sutyak et al. in view of U.S. Patent No. 5,922,809 to Bhat at el.
As to claims 1, 3-7, and 14-15, Sutyak discloses a hot melt adhesive comprising an isocyanate functional prepolymer obtained by reacting at least one solid polyester polyol (Dynacoll 7360 or 7380), a mixture of at least two polyether polyols (PPG 2000, PPG 425), and a polyisocyanate in the presence of 0.005% by weight of catalyst (DMDEE, Examples E1-E8).
Sutyak does not expressly disclose a grafted polyether polyol.
However, Bhat within the same field of endeavor teaches a hot melt adhesive comprising an isocyanate-functional prepolymer derived from mixtures of polyester diol, polyether diols and triols, and polyisocyanates wherein the prepolymer further comprises from 20 t0 40% by mass of a grafted polyether triol obtained by grafting styrene/acrylonitrile onto a polyoxypropylene triol with an average molecular weight of 54000 (13:33-55).
At the time of filing it would have been obvious to include the grafted polyether polyol of Bhat within the prepolymer adhesive composition of Sutyak to improve impact and elastomeric properties without reducing the ultimate strength of the adhesive (8:1-4).
As to claim 2, Sutyak in view of Bhat teach a grafted polyether triol with a solids content of 20 to 60 (8:12-20) with hydroxyl numbers of 30 to 75 (7:61-64).
As to claims 8-9, Sutyak discloses a prepolymer containing 16-32% by weight of solid polyester polyols with an OH number of 30, and a Tm of 55 and 70 (Table 1, E1-E8).
As to claim 10, Sutyak discloses at least 15% by weight of ungrafted polyether polyol (E1-E8).
As to claims 11-12, Sutyak discloses 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate as a suitable polyisocyanate component and the adhesive comprises greater than 50% by weight of the prepolymer (E1-E8).
As to claim 13, Sutyak discloses adding an acrylic resin based on methyl methacrylate and butyl methacrylate (Table 1) in amounts that range from 0-60% by weight of the adhesive (0040).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL L LEONARD whose telephone number is (571)270-7450. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 7:00-4:00.
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/MICHAEL L LEONARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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